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S E R I 6 U S 



REFLECTIONS 



OX 



T I M E 



ai:d 



ETERNITY, 

This world & the next. 

Br JOHN SHOWiiil. 

From art English Edition. 

LEOMINSTER, (Mafs.J 
-Printed by SALMON WILDER, 
— Oftofor, 1812.-*! 



.S4-5- 



SERIOUS 

REFLECTIONS 

ON 

Time and Eternity, 

This world and the next. 

Sect. I. 
Of the changeable state, and short duration 
gf earthly things s especially of man ; how 
little it is considered and believed ; hoiv 
necessary it should be. 
3^iS:#i HEN I consider that yesterday 
& w ® was the conclusion of the last 
'3 1 *J& yta*\ and that I am now entered 
©3?®® on another ; it is seasonable to 
reflect on the mutable condition and short. 
duratiou of all things in this world, which 
are measured by time. That as they have 
their beginning, so they have their end : and 
that the distance, to space of time between 
the one and the other is very little. Let me 
not then my soul ! rejoice and please my 
fcelftoo much in new enjoyments, remem- 
bering a change may be at hand, and the 
end is certain. 



4 Serious Retlectioi;3 

Many who were rich and flourishing the 
last year, may be reduced to poverty and 
deep distress, before the end of this : who 
are now in a capacity to relieve others, 
within a few months, or a shorter space, may 
be objects of other men's charity. The 
thing which hath been, is that which may be : 
and that which hath been seen in one year, 
jTviv happen in another ; so easily, so quick- 
ly may a change be VC.2 f le ! Riches may un- 
expectedly change their owners, and bor- 
row wings of a thousand accidents, where- 
with to fly to heaven for a new disposal. 
They* therefore who possess, should be as if 
they possessed not ; for the fashion of this 
^orld passeth away. Innumerable casual- 
ties may effect that change, which no hvi- 
mafl art o* skill can possibly foresee, or 
hinder. Afflictive unexpected evils attend 
us every where : we cannot promise our- 
selves tranquility for a day, much less one 
year to came. They lay in wait for us on 
every side, enter at every ^crevice, and com- 
monly overtake us, when we are least ap- 
prehensive of their approach. Man\ that is 
born of a woman is of few days, and full 
of trouble : he cometh up as a flower, and 
is cut down ; fleeth as a shadow and con- 
tinued! not. What then are riches, beauty, 
strength and honor, the accidents of this 
substance, which is itself but a shadow ! 

How false is the hope of man, an^ how 
frail is ail his glory ! one day can make an 

* 1 Cor. vii, 29. f Job ix. 25. 



0/s Time and Eternity. 5 

end of all his riches and honors : and yet 
what solicitude, care, and labor, to gft what 
we desire ot these things, (mo often we do 
not need them ; and to keep what we have 
gotten, and then to increase it, and then to 
defend it, and at last to enjoy it, and in a mo- 
ment it is snatched from us, or we from it. 
His life is but a vapor, on which they all 
depend; then how much less are they? 
To how speedy an alteration are they sub- 
ject ! what numberless instances of this doth 
one year's experience furnish ; what sadden- 
ing disappointments, and* unexpected ca- 
lamities have befallen many since this day 
twelve-month! and multitudes who are now 
at ease,& think their mountains too strong to 
be removed, shall meet with sharper trials 
before the end of this year. Alas ! how few 
consider or believe it, until they find it so ? 
All men JshMM count upon trouble and dis- 
tV suffering and sorrow in this 
war! and he that hath the least share, is 
reckoned "he most prosperous man ; and 
yet he knows not how soon his portion may 
be doubled. We reckon our joys by the 
absence of some degrees of sorrow and ca- 
lamity that others meet with: and before 
the end of this year, our condition may be 
as disconsolate as theirs. my soul ! tho 5 
J know this to be true ; tho' I cannot, I 
dare not deny it ; yet how difficult is it to 
conquer the love of this world, and of this 
body, to thift degree I ought ! to under- 
value the interest of a short, a mutable, un- 
certain troublesome life, in comparison of 

A 



8 Serious HtzvLZcncxs 

the permanent possession of an everlasting 
good ! tho' I know that what is earthly and 
temporal must needs be thus changeable 
and fading ? and that it is as true of man 
himself, as of any thing under the sun ; yet 
how do I forget what man is ! not only mu- 
table in this state, his body, and his life, but 
in his mind too, so as to love and hate, to 
chuse and neglect, to delight in, and abhor, 
such things at one time, as he did not be- 
fore. He doth not pass the same judgment, 
nor retain the same affections at one time as 
at another. How do I live, as if all this were 
as certainly false, as it is unquestionably 
true ? Admire, love, fear, trust in man t as 
if he were the direct contrary to what he 
is, and seek for immortcduy upon earth, and 
act as if I were assured of it, and were 
not liable to any change ; tho 1 I acknou 1- 
edge and know the contrary. Tho' the last 
yearns experience, and the observation of 
every day, doth convince me of it ; tho' all 
history, and all the records of the grave at- 
test it"; tho' all mankind, in every age have 
found it so ; tho' it be a manifest notorious 
truth, legible in the various changes and ca- 
lamities, but especially in the dust and ashes 
of all who have lived before us, (our graves 
being often made of our predecessor's dust y 
and the earth we bury in having once been 
living) yet how little is it believed, how sel- 
dom considered ! the confirmation of it, 
which ont year gives us, hath little influence 
on our hearts or lives, with respect to the 
next. We ought therefore, to accustom 



on Tiuz tf/z<f Eterkity. 7 

ourselves to these thoughts, before such 
changes happen, to which our final change , 
shall ere long succeed. They will be less 
efficacious, if never admitted 'till our minds 
arc opprest and feebled by the weight of af- 
fliction. Wc shall then want that vigour of 
reason, which should co-operate with the 
remedy ; and which if used beforehand, 
would help to support and stay our mind.s f 
under all subsequent revolutions. For those 
considerations may be able to fix and stay 
our minds, under changes, that may not be 
sufficient to recover, and raise our spirits 
after they are dejected and fallen. 

Sect. IT. 
Of the change in men's inclinations,opinions 
and actions, vohich one year sheivs ; how 
observable it is in others : how much more 
discernable in ourselves. Honor and rep- 
utation, &c. ho'D uncertainly preserved, 
and hovo easily blasted. 

WHAT a discovery doth one year 
make of the mutability of man, not 
only of his outward condition, but of the 
man himself; his temper, his practice, his 
inclinations, his aversions, &c. He abideth 
not at one day ; every breath of wind turns 
him to another shape. We despise to day, \\r<\t 
which we admired yesterday ; and to-mor- 
row hate the object of our present love. 
We begin friendships, and cancel them on 
slight occasions ; and a mortal enmity often 



8 Serious Reflections 

succeeds to a tender affection : the very 
persons, who are in one year our darling 
friends, and possibly deserved to be so, may 
yet be open enemies the next, and seek our 
ruin. Lord, what is man J How deceitful 
and mutable the heart of man ! we know 
not what other men are, or will prove to be, 
'till a trial ; and we are equally ignorant 
concerning ourselves, 'till an hour of temp- 
tation. How patiently do we think we could 
bear afflictions 'till we feel them ! how par- 
tial and mistaken a judgment do we make 
of our wisdom and strength, in reference to 
the future ! w r e counsel others to submis- 
sion and resignation in the most difficult tri- 
als, and wonder they complain so loud; 
when we ourselves despond, and sink un- 
der half their burthen ; and send up our 
more impatient murmurs to heaven, when 
God thinks fit to prove us by a lighter 
stroke. We censure and condemn others, 
who are in a higher station, and are call'd 
to more difficult work than we ; when by a 
little advancement, and the like temptations, 
we discover that we are as bad as they. 
They who w r ere reputed humble, temperate 
and religious ; w T hen they have been exalted 
higher, become proud, sensual, and ungod- 
ly. Had some been told a twelve month 
since, what now they are, and speak, and 
act, they would have made HazaeVs an- 
swer, Am I a dog, that I should do this ? A 
change in the public affairs of the state, and 
by that means of particular interests, or 
some alteration of our own private circum- 



on 



Time <3m/Eternity. 



stances (calling us to new duties, and expos- 
ing us to new temptations) discovers us 
more to ourselves, & toother men, than was 
expected, and proves us to be very different 
from what we appeared to be. 

Such a change, for instance, as from/wtf- 
erty to riches, from sickness to health, from 
obscurity to honor, from privacy to a public 
charge, &c. or on the contrary. Men can- 
not bear the weight of temporal happiness, 

l^^iL :; v iivo *«»j^.i tii^»iv^«^» »*»mk%v uo «-v^ u\s *>»««••■»* 

men, than before we seemed to be. How 
weak a thing is man ! that cannot carry his 
own wishes, without falling under them : 
that cannot prosper in his designs, without 
being changed in the temper of his mind, 
upon every success. So true is it, that Man 
in honor is like the beast that pertsheth ; and 
changed ordinarily for the worse, as to se- 
rious religion. May we not fear, that some, 
who a year since dared not live a day in the 
neglect of closet and family devotion, do 
now omit it, for many days and UteeMs to- 
gether ? and that some, who once were 
careful to improve the whole sabbath to re- 
ligious purposes, now place the whole of 
their religion in attending the public wor- 
ship, and think it enough, not for that day 
only, but for the whole week. Under the 
afflicting hand of God, or some apprehen- 
sions of an approaching change, or sense of 
guilt upon great transgressions, the con- 
victions of sin are lively, conscience is sensi- 
ble and awake, affections warm, resolutions 
strong, he. But alas f how soon doth the 



10 Serious Reflections 

case alter ! our spirits coo), our zeal abates, 
our good purposes untwist and die, and 
come to nothing. By degrees we return 
to folly, and boldly venture on that sin> we 
lately trembled at. Through the want of 
continued smart afflictions, or of a serious 
awakening ministry, and friendly admonition; 
or through the temptations of vain company, 
End the remaining power of fleshly lusts : 
So that we falsify our most sacred promises 
and resolutions > violate our holy vows, can- 
cel the bonds of God upon us, suffer the 
devil to re-enter, and prevail again, to take 
possession of our hearts, and yield our- 
selves an easy prey to his temptations, till 
our latter end be worse than our beginning. 
Oh what a change doth one year let us 
see, in persons as well as things ! in our* 
selves as well as other men ! And as it is 
with man himself, so with every thing thai 
he values himself upon, or for which he is 
esteemed by others ; and even hi3 esteem 
and reputation is also changeable and uncer- 
tain. A Not to instance in riches, but in what 
is nobler, learning, and the improvements 
of the mind by study ; how soon may the 
violence of a disease disturb or stupify the 
brain to that degree, as shall reduce the 
greatest scholar to the pitied condition of a 
fool or bedlamite ? and where is his reputa- 
tion and renown, in such a case ? But 
much less than that will blast the fairest 
reputation, with the far greatest part of the 
world : it may be lost by unwary mistakes, 
by false reports, by cftvf and malice, by the 



on Time and Eternity. 

subtle hatred of enemies, or by the weak- 
ness and credulity of friends y (who will 
listen to every backbiter's story) or by one 
or two indiscretions of the man himself; and 
no man can be certain to secure his reputa- 
tion whilst he lives, much less after he is 
dead. Who can content all men, however 
he lives ? And who is well spoken of by all 
when he is dead ? who is so esteemed, that 
some do not despise him ? The wisest con- 
duct cannot hinder but some will judge 
hardly and amiss. 

How vain and faulty is an ambition to be 
talked of after we are dead, which will be 
but by very/m, and that very differently \ 
and but for a little while.. There is no re- 
mcmbrance of former things, neither shall 
there be of things to ccme> 'with those that 
jshall come after, Eccles. i. 1 1. For how 
Httle a while do the proudest monuments 
last, that are set over the rotten flesh and 
bones of many, to preserve their memory ? 
God hath promised, it is true, that iher 
righteous shall be had in everlasting remem- 
brance ; but it must be understood so far 
only as the frame and state of this world, 
and the revolutions and vicissitudes of time 
will permit. But what good can it do us, 
farther than the interest of God's glory, and 
the good of others is concerned in it ? The 
blessed will not need it, and the damned 
have no advantage by it. And no endeav- 
ours can be certain of success : for people 
will talk of us as they please ; and their 
opinions very often change from one ex- 



12 Serious Reflections 

treme to the other. But he who hath th* 
loudest fame, shall only be talked of a little 
-longer than his neighbors ; and that by a 
few dying men, that must themselves be ere 
long forgotten. And how small a part of 
the inhabited world, is acquainted so much 
as with thename of the greatest of men in 
Europe ? And how different and contrary 
are men's opinions aud discourses of them 
where they are known, and talked of? And 
how many holy excellent persons are buried 
in oblivion, or mis-represented as unworthy 
to live on earth, whose names will be found 
in the book of life ? Our life is yet as mu- 
table, and uncertain as any of theirs. The 
time is hastening when we shall be too old 
to live, but at that time we are eld encugh to 
die. Our breath is in our nostrils; and 
tho f there be room enough for it to go out, 
we have no assurance that we shall have 
power to draw it in again. 



on Time and Eternity. 13 

• CQCCOQeQ'gg-QgeQ S gQgeOQ 

Sect. III. 

Cj the uncertainty of lining to the period of 
another year. The vanity of this life : 
the swiftness of time, and how to be im- 
proved* 

I Now begin another year : but what as- 
surance have I to out-live it ? I cannot 
say, how soon my sovereign Judge may 
call me hence, and summon me to appear 
before his righteous bar. O let me not de- 
fer my necessary preparation for death, 
which may be nearer than I imagine ! let 
me mind the great things j£h$/, which are of 
absolute necessity to be done, some time or 
other before I die. This perishing body 
which I have pampered and indulged, af 
the expence of so much cost and time, rriay 
be putrifying in a silent grave, before half 
this year be passed. Lord ! bless this tho't, 
to awaken my diligent endeavors to sec t: re 
the blessedness of eternity f to mortify the 
desire of great things for myself, in Ja'urc 
years, by the considered possibility cf dy- 
ing before the end of this f let me look into 
the graves of others, and consider that this 
may quickly happen to me, and must ere 
long be my own case : let me think v 
this body will shortly be, when it hath I. 
six or eight davs separated from mt soul ; 
B 



14 Serious Reflections 

how vile ? how loathsome ? that I may des- 
pise the beauty, and be dead to the pleas- 
tires of the body, which so easily, so sud- 
denly, so strangely may be changed. For 
no glass is more brittle, no bubble more van- 
ishing, no ice more dissolving, no flower 
more fading, no shachv) less substantial, no 
sleep or dream more deceiving, no sound 
more transient, nothing more vain and more 
uncertain than life, on which all other things 
in this world depend. My days are as noth- 
ings saith Job, tho' they lasted above two 
ages, 

There is hardly any thing very frail and 
feeble, mutable and uncertain, but the spirit 
of God in scripture sets forth the vanity of 
life by ; as if he would teach us by it, from 
the sight of every perishing object, which 
our eyes behold, to reflect on our own mor- 
tality. We sleep every night in the outer 
chambers of death, and in some diseases 
sleep, which is the image and picture of 
deaths is taken away, to give place to the 
original^ and make way for death. And 
every year, every week, every day are we 
hastening to our final change ; which may 
overtake us ere we are aware. Every day 
Ave lose some part of our lives ; in our very 
growth from infancy to manhood, our life 
decreases, and grows less. Every pulse 
and breath doth tell us we are hastening to 
the end of time, & calls upon us to dispatch 
our work. 

If we consider | time to be the measure 

f Dr. Doito'* Devotions. 



on Time j/;i Eternity 15 

of motion, however it may seem to have 
three stations ; past, present and future ; the 
first and last of these are wcA : (one is not 
now, and the other is not yet.) That which 
you call present, is not now the same it was, 
before you began to call it so in this line ; 
when you sound that word present, or the 
monosyllable wu>, the present, and the novj 
is past. If we consider eternity, into that 
time never entered ; eternity is not an ever- 
lasting flux of time ; but time is a short 
parenthesis in a long period : and eternity 
had been the same, as it is, though time 
had never been. If we consider not eter- 
nity, but perpetuity, which shall outlive 
time, and be when time shall be no more. 
What a minute is the life of man to that '? 
How soon must it end ? 

Every word we speak, is formed of thrrt 
breath whereby we live ? and we may not 
live to pronounce another sentence, but the 
lamp of life may be extinguished and blown 
out by a sudden blast. Every thing we do, 
carries away some sands of our little glass 
of time ; and how few many remain ? or 
how soon may the glass be broken ? Our 
souls are in our bodies, as a little air inclos- 
ed in a thin bubble] how easily is that broken, 
and where are we ! How many who are 
now alive, in health and vigor, who delib- 
erate on their meat and drink, and are curi- 
ous of air and exercise, to maintain them- 
selves in health, and please themselves with 
the dream of yesrs to come, shall never sec 
another new-years day ? It may be not a- 



16 Serious Reflections- 

mother month, or week, or morrow ? Many- 
have promised themselves great things on 
the morrow, but died before night : let me 
net say, I shall not .die this night, when I 
may this hour ;■ and it is bat once for all, 
there is no amending an ill death by another 
trial. " When I lie down to sleep, I hope 
to rise stronger and fresher, and fitter for 
work ; but I know withal, I may rise no 
more. And may not my name be on the 
roll of those who shall next be called, at 
least sometime this year? Let me not neg- 
lect or foolishly delay my principal business, 
to provide against a change, which is inevi- 
table, but the time of it altogether doubtful. 
Ought not my first and chiefest care be em- 
ployed, to make my peace with God, (he 
alone can be my happiness ; to his final 
judgment I am hastening : His favor alone 
can give me support and joy in a dyings 
hour : to his mercy I must trust, when I 
.leave this world, and can have no advan- 
tage more by any thing in it : that he may 
mercifully receive my soul at death, and be 
my everlasting portion ? Do I know my 
life is thus vain and transient, and shall I not 
seriously improve it to such a purpose ? 
Shall these thoughts leave no impression up- 
on me ? Do I breathe continually in this 
element of vanity, and yet forget where I 
am, and remain insensible of so near a 
change ? Shall these thoughts pass awaj' 
as a vanishing cloud, and distill no softening 
drops of my soul ? Shall the image of 
death, which meets me every where, be on- 



§n Tim and -Eteisit.y. 17 

ly like an appearing ghost or phantasm, that 
startles and scares a lutle, but is presently 
gone and no mure considered ? Oh ! let 
me now remember to make God my friend, 
and secure an interest in his eternal mercy, 
while the day lastt ; yea, v\ hiie my reason 
and understanding are free, and not dis- 
turbed and clouded by fear and pain, and 
the disorders of the body, as commonly 
they are in sickness, if God should vouchsafe 
me that warning ; which yet I may not 
promise of myself to have, for I may be cut 
off by a sudden stroke before the end of this 
year I now begin." 

And how great and necessary work have 
I to do in a short and so uncertain a por- 
tion of time? Endless joy or misery will 
be the consequence of spending this present 
time. M/ ignorant soul must be instruct- 
ed,my carnal heart renewed, many false opin- 
ions must be unlearned, and sinful customs 
changed, and powerful lusts mortified, and 
strong temptations overcome, and many 
graces to be obtained, exercised, srength- 
ened and preserved, to please, and serve, 
and glorify an holy, omnipresent God, my 
sovereign ; and express the thankfulness of 
my heart and life to Christ my Saviour ; 
and is all this nothing ? Is not all my little 
hasty time too little for sVch a work ? to pre- 
pare for a safe and comfortable death, in or- 
der to a blessed eternity ? 

B 



18 Serious Reflections 

Sect. IV; 

Of the seeming difference between so many 
years past, and the same number of years 
to come. 

WHEN I look back to the preceeding 
years of my life, how easily can f 
grasp them all at once ? they are even as 
yesterday when it is past. But so many 
years to come hath something great aad 
vast, which fills my thoughts, and affects 
my mind, after another manner. Such is 
the difference between past enjoyments, 
and the expectation of future. Let me 
suppose the same term and duration of years, 
and yet how different are my apprehensions 
of what is pass, and what is yet to come ! 
Things past by remembrance "of some re- 
markable passages, when they happened, 
seem to be present with me/ but not know- 
ing what may happen in the same number 
of years to come, I have nothing whereon 
to fix my thoughts. Or the reason of this 
difference may rather be, that men in this 
degenerate and necessitous state (with un- 
satisfied desires reaching after happiness, 
and sensible nothing present cm afford it, 
and knowing by experience that nothing 
past could have done if) are eagerly desir- 
ous of felicity ; and because we know not 
but what is to come may procure it> we 
hope it will; which makes the time seem 



onTiMZ. anJErzixsiTY' 19 

long, by reason of our expectation and de- 
sire of good. Whereas the foresight of ivz/ 
and the expectation of that, some years 
hence, makes the time rather seem short, 
and 'near at hand : so many years to come, 
in the expectation and desire of good, are 
long and tedious : such hope deferred makes 
the heart sick ; even though it is of that sort, 
as must needs fail our expectations. 

Prepare me, Lord! for what, thine un- 
erring counsel shall please to order, as to 
the remainder of my time on earth ; and 
suffer me not to count up^n a great number 
of years to come, since this, for ought I 
know, may be my last : neither let me ex- 
pect rest and happiness in this world, which 
nothing temporal can afford. This is not 
the state or season, wherein, by any prom- 
ise of G >d, I ana encouraged to hope it. 
And \f fifty or threescore years to come, be 
tho't so great a matter, and really is so, as 
to our stay on earth : Oh what apprehen- 
sions ought i to admit concerning an end- 
less everlasting state I especially being as 
certain of the latter, after death, as I am un- 
certain about the former ; whether so miwxy 
years be yet to come before my death. Let 
me not hereafter be so preposterous in my 
solicitude, enres and fears, as to be anxious 
for tomorrow, and yet be thoughtless of eter- 
nity. 



20 Serious Reflections 



Sect. V. 

The little portion of our time on earth consid- 
ered, by a computation of the lift of man t 
from the number oj years and hours. 

THINK, my soul ! how short is that 
life at longest, made up of years, and 
months, and days ; such little parts and yet 
in number few. Well therefore may it be 
expressed, as I find in Holy Writ, by years 
of number ; that is, such as may soon be 
numbered. When a few years are come 
saith Job *, ( or the years of 'number, as in 
the original) I shall go the way, whence I 
shall not return. By the years of an hire- 
ling, which are not above three, Isa. xvi.14. 
we usually compute threescore and ten years, 
to the life of man : let me suppose fourscore. 
The bed a hh most employs one half; and 
hardly one in thirty doth reach the age of 
seventy years. Aiid f they who live to such 
an age, do yet complain how soon it is gone. 
Ignorant childhood and heedless youth, and 
infirm old age, may be supposed to take up 
a third part of that time. In either of them 
very little of the great ends of life are an* 
s we red. We ordinarily begin to reckon 
our lives from our birth ; whereas for a 

*Jol xvi. 11. Emei. xii. l6. I/a. X. 19. 
t Winter Evening Confirm*. Conf. 1. 



on Time and ErEnxixr. 51 

good while after, we know not whether wc 
are alive or no, but are beholden to others 
to make the account for us. When we first 
come to the steady use of reason, or what 
we call the years of discretion ; how few 
are there, but from the prejudices of edu- 
cation, from the corruption of human na- 
ture, from the want of experience, from the 
infection of bad company, how few I say, 
but spend their younger years in those things 
which afterwards they are ashamed of, when 
experience hath taught them the wusdom of 
men ? How great a part of our remaining 
time is taken up m the necessitiesof nature, 
about food and raiment, and in lawful cares, 
to support the body ? And how much more 
than needs, in pampering, dressing and a- 
doming it ? Out of the small remainder^ 
how much is employed in the concerns of a 
family, and near relations, in particular 
callings, in necessary civil business, and in 
getting, keeping, or improving an estate ? 
besides all the time that is spent in recrea- 
tions, visits, unprofitable discourse, imper- 
tinent thoughts, journeys, sickness, and in- 
numerable other occasions, some allowable, 
some unavoidable, and many needless ? ; 
After this, how little time remains wherein 
to cultivate and improve our minds, by 
languages, arts and sciences, or the knowl- 
edge of a trade, &c. How little then after 
all, may we say, is left For the matters of 
religion ? for devotion to God, and serious 
preparation for another world ? 

Alas ! how small a number of veara make 



22 Serious Refiectio^s 

up the life of man ! and hovf small a portion 
of that, is employed about the principal bu- 
siness, for which we were born, and for 
which we live ? We divide time into past, 
present and future : but the past is not now 
ours : the future is notyet, and the present 
now is past, ere the sound is pronounced. 
And yet this is all the time allotted us 
wherein to secure the blessedness of eterni- 
ty. How many hours more cf our little 
time might be improved than commonly 
are by the best ? In every year there are 
8766 hours : If we allow the greatest half 
for sleep, and necessary attendance on the 
body, and take but 4000 hours for our 
W( ;k and business of consequence: how 
poor an account can most men give of. 
all these 4000 hours in every year ? 
Not one hour in seven, not one in ten, 
is ordinarily devoted to God, and the pur- 
poses of religion. Should it not affect us, 
seriously to consider this ? especially, if we 
remember, at what an uncertainty we are, 
how small a number of davs and hours do 
yet remain. This year, this month, this 
week, this day or hour may be my last. 
What an unsuspected accident, or a sud- 
den disease may do, I know not : but this 
1 know, that there is scarce any thing that 
hath not killed some body ; an hair, a fea- 
ther, a vapour, a breath hath done it ; and 
when the apostle James asks the question, 
What is your life? He answers, It is even 
a vapor, that appeareth a little < ^hile > and 
then vanishes away. 



en Time and Eternity. 23 

Sect. VI. 

Of the redemption of time, /wv; preeioits and 
valuable a treasure it is % and "will be tho't 
to be y ivhen it it too late. 

IS the life of man so short and fleeting, 
our days on earth so few, and so uncer- 
tain ! How careful should I be to manage 
every hour, endeavoring to match the swift- 
ness of time By my celerity, and diligence 
to improve it ? I can have no business of 
greater or of equal moment to mind, than 
to secure the happiness of my soul in ano- 
ther world. And shall I lavish my time, 
and lose my pains about things unnecessa- 
ry ? What will all other business signify in 
the end, if this be neglected ? Is there any 
interest more iveighty, that calleth me from 
such work ? Is there any thing else that 
so well deserves my time ? That may be 
put into the scales, or weighed in a balance 
against this ? Shall eternity, which compre- 
hends all time, have the least share of my 
time allotted for its concernment ? How 
little a part of my time hath been hitherto 
employed in such work ! How reasonable, 
how neoessary it is to redeem the little inch 
of time that yet remains, but hastens to a 
period ? For as there is no covenant to be 
made with death, so no agreement for the 



i 



24 Serious Rkr lections 

urrest and stay of time ; it keeps its pace, 
whether I redeem, and use it well or not. 

The greatest part of cur lite is designed- 
ly employed to avoid death ; we eat, and 
drink, and sleep, and labor, and rest, that 
we may not die ; and yet even by these 
we hasten to death. Every breath, every 
pulse, every word leaves one less of the 
number, which Gcd hath appointed me, 
and carries away some sands of the glass of 
time ; and yet how little care is taken to 
employ it well ? We seldom value it, till 
we can no longer use it to any advantage ; 
and though we know it can neither be re- 
tarded in its motion, or recalled when past, 
yet of nothing are we mere prcdigal. Yea, 
how many complain cf it as a burthen, and 
know not what to do with their time, are 
■exceedingly at a loss wherein to employ it, 
what to do to be rid of it ? But alas ! how 
near is that change, when they shall think 
nothing too dear to purchase seme few 
grains of that sand, which now seem too 
many, while they are passing through their 
hour-glass ? How sad will be the review 
of our lost and ill-spent time ? How dif- 
ferent an opinion of its value we shall have 
on a sick bed, cr when our time and hepe 
is gone ? How many weeks, and days.and 
hours, ny ''soul ! have I trifled away in 
sloth and idleness, in foolish mirth, and 
hurtful company, in vain thoughts and im- 
pertinent discourse, in excess of sleep, and 
needless pastimes, feastings, inordinate care 
to adorn the body, or gratify the sensual ap- 



vn Time end Eternity. 25 

petite ? All that which is past rs irrecov- 
erable ; and the little remainder flies a pace. 
How quickly will it be gone ; how soon, 
how suddenly, may an unexpected stroke 
of death conclude it ? And yet this is all 
the opportunity I shall ever have, to make 
my peace with God, and prepare for the 
everlasting World* 

Did we consider as we ought, we should 
•not foolishly throw away so much of it in 
trifles, and tilings impertinent, ot \i hat is 
worse. How much more might we redeem 
than- commonly we do ? to how much bet- 
ter purpose might we husband it ? How 
much more work might we -do, were we 
never idle, or did not loiter ? We might 
walk far, did we not often stand still, or go 
out of our way. We see it plainly by the 
great and excellent effects of some few 
men's industry in every age. Art hath 
found means to set spies and watches as it 
were on the stm, that he cannot look out, 
but they take hold of his shadow, and force 
it to tell how far he is gone that day : And 
yet while we are curious in making time 
give a just account of itself to us, how lit- 
tle do we consider the account of our time, 
which we must shortly give to God ? Oh t 
that such a thought might effectually per- 
suade me to redeem it ? that I may not tarry 
till the end of time to know the worth of it ! 
p t me not undervalue it, while it is given 

\ to be used, that I may not eternally re- 
* c my folly, when time shall be no mere, 
d calls me to diligence and labor ; the 
C 



26 Serious Reflections 

ivori he calls me to is excellent, and the re* 
ward glorious; to know, and love, and 
serve, and obey him, in order to eternal life; 
and shall 1 yet be idle ? Is this the use and 
end of all my time ? And do I know it, and 
believe it ? Do I indeed believe it, and yet 
delay and loiter, and waste my preeious 
hours in vanity ? Am I going into cnternity, 
and entering into another world, and know 
that I must be in heaven or kcU forever ; and 
have I time to throw away ? Am I fit to 
die, and to appear before my Judge, or am 
I not ? Am I made meet for heaven, by 
pardoning mercy and sanctifying grace ? 
Have I the earnest of the spirit to witness 
and assure me of it ? Is my interest in the 
promise of eternal life as firm, and my evi- 
dence of it as clear, as it may be made ? 
Am I not conscious to myself, that much 
of this necessary work is yet to be done f 
And shall such an unprepared soul- as mine, 
be careless and indifferent how I spend my 
time,' 



%r% 



on Time and Et einitt, 2T 

Sect. VII. 

Of the ordinances of heaven, day and night, 
summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, 
their order and succesion established by God % 
is the effect of infinite wisdo??i and good* 
ness. IVhat they teach us. 

W 7 HEN I consider the beginning of 
V V another year, I can hardly avoid re- 
fleeting on its several parts, summer and 
Winter, spring and fall, day and wight, and 
the alternate turns- This calls me to ob* 
serve, and admire his eternal power and 
godhead, wisdom and truth, who is the 
great Author of this admirable variety ; 
who hath fixed th€ earth with his foot, and 
hanged it on nothing, and settled the In- 
mioarks of heaven far excellent ends : The 
sun to rule by day, and the moon by night ; 
thereby to distinguish times and seasons, to 
separate day and night, winter and summer, 
and consult the convenience of man and 
beast, by their due succession. The day is 
thine, the night also' is thine, thou makes* 
summer and winter. How wonderful is their 
order, beauty, and constant course ; that 
when the sun withdraws, and the shadows 
of the evening cover the earth with dark- 
ness, to conclude the day ; the moon and 
stars supply the place of the absent sun, 
during the nighi ; And that though they 



23. Serious Re p l l c t io n 5 

differ in length, yet gradually lessen, tilt 
they are both equal- at the year's end, and 
have made the same circuit ? How excel- 
lent a work of God is that quick succes- 
sion to one another ? The supposition of a 
perpetual night, is a dismal gloomy thought. 
O- what will the everlasting darkness of the 
infernal prison be ! The sun by day enlight- 
ens the earth, directs our motions, guides 
our way, governs our travail, assists con- 
versation, awakens industry, warms the 
earth, and air, gives life, and vigor, and 
fruitfulness .taall things under the sun, ancl 
makes the whole inferior creation to rejoice. 
An emblem of God^s universal goodness, 
who is kind to all his creatures. How ad- 
mirable is its lustre ! how glorious is its 
light ! how loudly doth it proclaim his 
power and wisdom t who made this, and 
the other lights of heaven, by his powerful 
word, and preserves them hitherto by his 
daily providence. 

If God be now so glorious, contemplated 
in his works, considered m the lustre 
of the created sun, viewed only through 
the windows of sense ; how much more 
glorious will he appear hereafter, when we 
shall see him face to face, and nothing in- 
terpose betwixt us. and his incomparable 
light ! If mine eyes dazzle to look upon the 
meridian sun t , in what inaccessible light 
must he dwell, who is the Father af lights? 
If this lower world, the common receptacle 
of his friends and enemies have so much of 
his, glory vouchsafed them, by the heavenly 



0'ri Tizi t ant E r MW1 r y • 2d 

bodies ; O what a place will heaven be, 
where shall be no sun cr /woew. nor need of 
any but the glory of God shall lighten it, and 
the Lamb- be the light thereof. 

While I tiius ■ consider the sun and the 
day, 1 must not think the night is useless, 
which- discovers another part of the heavens; 
not discernabie by day, viz. the stars, and 
planets refreshing the earth, cooling the air, 
giving necessary rest to the creatures, &X* 
Their order, motions, aspect.% oppositions, 
influences, are all useful and instructive* 
The agreeable mixture of light and dark- 
ness, the regu-Iar succession of day and 
night within a few hours, are exceeding 
wonderful, and advantageous. In other 
paits of the world, where the sun-beams 
are more direct, and its heat excessive, God 
hath made amends by the length of the 
Htght i (under the equinoctial line it is al- 
ways twelve hours ) and in the more north- 
ern parts, where the influence of the sun is 
weaker, the days are proportionably longer. 
So good is God to all his creatures, in all 
parts of the world ! As the morning and 
evening answer to the day of twenty four 
hours ; so doth spring and autumn to the 
twelve months of the year, that we may not 
pass immediately from one extreme to anoth- 
er, but gradually be disposed for so great a 
change, as is bet weer* summer and winter, 
and winter and summer, So merciful and 
gracious, and infinitely wise is God, in all 
his works ! so that we cannot say, one part 
of the year is more necessary than the otL- 

€ 



SO Serious Rf. f l Ec r r o fi s 

er. The winter is as useful' for the good 
of the universe, as the summer : In this we 
are supplied with what is necessary to main- 
tain us in that. And the admirable situa- 
tion cf the sun (most probably) in the cen- 
tre of the world, seems much to contribute 
to it. If it had been at a farther distance 
from us, our earth would nave been in a 
manner desolate ;. because the influence o£ 
the sun could not have beeiv considerable : 
And if it had been nearear, the stars above 
would have wanted light, and this earth un- 
der been burnt up.. The excellent order 
which it hath now obeyed for almost six 
thousand years-, is also wonderful. The 
sun never stood still but once,, and that by 
a miracle ; though much inferior to that of 
its progress.. What a subject is here 10. 
admire the power, goodness, wisdom, and 
faithfulness ef God ? Lord I What is man ! 
for whom thou dost all this ? And because I 
find every year that the day dies into night, 
the summer into winter, and herbs and 
plants lose their beauty and verdure, and 
shed their blossoms ; may I net hence learn 
to consider, and prepare for my own ap- 
proaching change ? In prosperity, health, 
and ease, and life, to expect, and make pro- 
vision far trouble, sickness, pain and death ? 
as every wise man in summer 'would do for 
winter ; and work with all my might, while 
it is cailcd to. day, while the light continues, 
because the night of darkness is at hand, 
when nquQ can work. 



on 



Time and Eternity. . 31 



Sect. VIIL 

Ofc\\ls to be expected in this year ; tht wis- 
dom and mercy of God, in coneealing//'0#r 
us the knowledge ^future events. 

NOT only few, and uncertain, but evil 
likewise are the days, of the years, of 
my life, may every one say, with the patri- 
arch Jacob, A sufficient portion of evil 
for every year may well be expected, when 
our Lord tells us> there is a certain meas- 
ure allotted for every day. Sufficient to the 
day is the evil of it. Not only is our life 
short, but troublesome, full of vexatious 
mixtures. We cannot sing a requiem ta 
our sou-Is*, when one great calamity is past - 
for we know not in this region of changes., 
but another, a greater may be at hand. One 
messenger of ill- news may succeed and 
out- do another, as it was with Job. We 
come weeping into the world in a most, 
helpless, forlorn state ; and if we escape the 
dangers of infamy, and . the casualties of 
childhood - r and. after that outlive the snares 
and follies of youth, we are tost upon the 
pikes oitime and chance % mid sadden And 
disquiet ourselves with a thousand griefs 
and sorrows, by inevitable and unexpected 
occasions ; though we increase the number 
of needless cares and fears, and discontents ; 
till at leng'h, a sudden stroke arrests us , we 
fetch a groan and die* 



32 Senous Re pl ecti o a* 

We can give a catalogue of the afflictions 
and calamities, perplexities and disappoint- 
meats, incumbrances, crosses, and evii ac- 
cidents of human life ? By means whereof 
millions are disconsolate and sad, moura 
and complain, weep and sigh, and from day 
to day are fed wit h the bread of affliction % 
and the water of adversity. Not to men- 
tion mens fluctuating restless thoughts of 
heart, importunate desires, baffled projects, 
defeated purposes, which suppose or brmg 
vexation. A good share of these is not to 
be avoided ; and yet very few can be par- 
ticularly foreseen^ Who could prognosti- 
cate a year ago the mercies, or the evils, 
which have happened since ? public and 
private, personal and relative, to the coun- 
tries, cities, families and persons we are 
concerned for I A>nd who can certainly fore- 
tel the events of this- ensuing year ? God 
hath intermix* good and evil in the life of 
man : He hath set prosperity against adver- 
sity, saith Solomon, to the end, that man 
shoidd find nothing after him, Eceles. vii. 14. 
that he may not know what shall come next, 
whether a prosperous or a calamitous event. 

What & change may be made in a year 
by the mere casualty of human events ; by 
the treachery of friends, or the malice of en- 
emies, or the more immediate hand of God! 
We know not what shall be on the morrow, 
much less what a twelve-month may pro- 
duce. Because whatever may be disposed 
to happen, from natural causes, or civil 
councils, may be altered by a particular cte- 



on Time cT/^/Eternitt. S3 

cree of providence. Prepare me, Loud I 
and every one of those in whose felicity I 
more especially take part, for all the calam- 
ities and sorrows, thine infinite wisdom shall 
think fit to exercise us with, this following' 
year : and by thy merciful providence, and 
gracious conduct, cause them to work for 
good : Furnishing us with suitable strength 
and wisdom, to acquiesce in thy good 
pleasure, and obey thy will. Let me fol- 
low thee, as the Father of the faithfi.il, tho* 
I know not whither thou wilt lead me. 
Knowing the wisdom and faithfulness of my 
pilot, let me therein be satisfied, though I 
know not particularly what course lie will 
steer. 

I thank thee, Heavenly Father ! that 
thou hast reserved the knowledge of future 
times and seasons to thyself, and hid events 
from men ; lest by considering them certain; 
we should presume in case they are good ; 
or should despairingly afflict ourselves, by 
foreseeing the evil we know to be inevita- 
ble. Did we certainly foreknow the good 
that would befall us, we should not trust 
in thee to bring it to pass, or heartily im- 
plore thy care and conduct. Did we fore- 
see the mlk we should suffer, before they 
overtake us, we should be overwhelmed 
with diffidence and despair. Many a moth- 
er who rejoiceth at the birth of a son, would 
mourn to foresee what a man, what a son 
he will prove. Such an increase of knowl- 
edge would increase our sorrow ; such a 
prescience would transport and discompose- 



54 Serious Reflections 

us, by unseasonable joys and sorrows, born 
out of time ; make us remiss in our duty 
to thee, and weaken our dependence on 
thine own unerring wisdom, truth and pow- 
er. 



Sect. IX, 

The supposition of (tying this year, should be 
improved; the consequence of redeeming 
time, and providing for eternity farther 
pressed. The folly of elder persons is con- 
demned and checked from the example of 
children. 9 Tis adviseable to familiarize 
the thoughts of death, and to imagine be- 
forehand^ what apprehensions of things ive 
shall then have. 

THE longest life is but a day multipli- 
ed ; and who can certify, or assure 
roe. which will be my fast ? He only, who* 
was God as well as man, could say, Mine 
hour is not yet come. Is all my life given 
me to resolve this question, whether I shall 
be in heaven or hell forever ? And have I 
any time to lose, and squander away* as 
superfluous ? have I any more than 
need? 'Tia no impossible or unrea- 
sonable supposition to make, that I may die 
this year. Let me admit that thought, and 
imagine myself on a bed of sickness:, wea- 
ried with pain, and ready to leave this 
world ; the physicians gone, despairing of 
my recovery ; ^my friends about me weep- 



en Time and Eternity. 35 

ing ; and all thing* in a doleful melancholy 
posture, suited to such a state ; feeling 
within myself the presages of death, expect- 
ing the final stroke, in an hour or two 
more ; what is then the value of sensual 
pleasure ? Can I then relish or favor them/ 
What then is honor to me, who shall never 
go abroad more to receive it, 'till carried to 
my grave ? Will it then comfort me to have 
lived in reputation and applause, if my heart 
was not humble under it, and the honor of 
God promoted by it ? Can riches and a 
great estate support me, when I am just 
packing up for a removal to the other world? 
In that hour will it be any satisfaction, to 
have made a stir and noise for a few years 
upon earth, to be talked of for a w hile lon- 
ger than other men f Are these the things 
my dying thoughts will be most concerned 
to reflect on ? 

These dignities, pleasures, and posses- 
sions offered to a dying man, would rather 
upbraid than tempt him ; they come too 
late, as a prince's pardon to a man whose 
head is off. Die 1 must, and appear before 
JBU judge, to answer for all that I have re- 
ceived, & done in the bedy. FoolxhzX I was, 
(shall I then too justly say to myself,) not 
to have considered this much sooner ! not 
to have provided for it at a better rate ! my 
sins stare me in the face, my conscience 
tells me I am not ready for such a trial : I 
have lived a stranger to such thoughts as 
now I cannot refuse, and which should have 
xren admitted sooner. But if to such a state 



33 Serious Reflections 

any hope of mercy may be granted, (though 
it be unspeakably little ) yet 1 cannot prom- 
ise myself any such warning by sickness. 
The sleeping Virgins were called at mid- 
night, and so may I. Where can I pitch 
my tents on earth, to be secure against a 
sudden remove ? 

Lord ! make these thoughts effectual to 
prevent my loss of precious time, which at 
.such a season will be esteemed precious, 
tho' now it be not. O how sivift how short 
is my time of trial, in order to eternity ! how 
difficult, how important a work is it to pre- 
pare for an everlasting state ! What is all 
this world, how little, how meer a nothing, 
to a departing soul ? And shall I, after such 
reflections, continue to pursue shadows and 
pkase myself with empty dreams ? when 
being so near my final judgment, the 
common wisdom of a man requires me to 
mind it in gcod earnest ; and be mere so- 
licitous about it than for any thing tempor- 
al ? O in what manner will death open my 
eyes, by shutting the windows of sense ! 
How shall I then see the nothingness of 
what is but temporal, and the reality of what 
is eternal ! 

We sometimes laugh to see the vanity of 
little children, who are greatly pleased \\ ith 
painted toys, and busily employed about 
trifles. It extorts a smile to see them eager, 
and industrious, and mightily concerned in 
their childish sports ; to see them sigh or 
weep for little things which we despise ; to 
observe with what solicitude and care the* 



on Time d7w/ETERifiT*p« 57 

~u ill raise a little fabrick, which three mo- 
ments after they themselves pui' down, or 
would otherwise tumble of its o\\ accord. 
We laugh at these, but should weep over 
ourselves, as the greater and older fools : 
who are every whit as silly, yea, infinitely 
more ; that considering we know the frail- 
ty of our present life, -and can look beyond 
the grave to another world, should yet mis- 
spend our precious time on things which 
cannot profit ; and please ourselves with 
what is so unsuitable to our age and state ; 
-and suffer our passions to work "with vio- 
lence, for a thing of nought ; and cur great- 
•est diligence, care, and zeal, to be exercised 
ed on things impertinent ar>d vain ; that are 
perishing in themselves, and can contribute 
nothing to our eternal welfare ? And is it 
not thus, with reference to all that men toil 
and labor for with the neglect of an immor- 
tal state ? 

The voluptuous Sadducee will not refuse 
the present gratification of his sensual 3t>/ 
petite, because he is uncertain of another 
day. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow 
ive dU. Should not the same motive quick- 
en my diligence in a better work ? and be- 
cause my Lord may come suddenly as a thief 
in the night, immediately prepare to meet 
him ? Let me now therefore, O my soul \ 
look forward to the end of life and time ? 
and so let me esteem, and seek, and choose f 
and do every thing in the first place, which 
then I shall wish I had ! Let me do noth- 
ing now which I verily believe I shall then 
D 



38 Serious Reflections 

be ashamed, or sorry to reflect en ; that by 
thinking what a condition 1 shall then \ ish 
to have rny soul in, 1 may now provide my- 
self much better than I have done hitherto. 
That while I am in the greatest probability 
of living, I may suppose my change to be 
near,& so not dare to do- any thing, but what 
I would or might do, if t were in the present 
expectation of death. To this end. let me go 
down to the potter's- house, descend to the 
consideration of my mortality, and dwell a- 
mong the tombs : remembering the Egyp- 
tians built themselves better tombs than 
houses, because thev were to dwell longer 
m them. Let every night's repose, serve 
me as a memorial of my last sleep ! and let 
my bed stand for the model of my coffin ! 
This is the only way to be dead to this 
world ; be able to judge of things how, as 
we shall do after death, according to im- 
mutable eternal truth. 



Sect. X. 

The brevity of life considered as the fruit of 
sin. There an but three ways of leaving 
this ivorld> as Abel. Adam or Enoch. 
A diligent improvement of time Jarther 
pressed and the neglect oj it bewailed. 

THE shortening of our days is the fruit 
of sin. All the funerals that have 
*ver been in the world, have been eaus- 



on Tixb and Eternity. 39 

ed by sin. We die because we have sin- 
ned, and yet we should not sin as now, if 
this were" not forgot, that we must die. 
From the first transgression of Adam we 
derive our death ; ^nd therefore some of 
his posterity lived longer than he. Which 
proves that the lengthening of our days is 
the peculiar gift of God ; and yet it is such 
a gift as was more desired formerly, than 
since the appearance of Christ : For we 
read of none in the New-Testament, since 
life and immortality is brought to light by 
the gospel, who desired a long continuance 
here on earth. 

Were we delivered from sin, the sting of 
death, by having made our peace with God 
in the blood of Jesus, death would not be 
frightful, or put on such a ghastly vizor, as 
to most it doth. But we are uncertain of 
our justification, we waver between hopes 
and fears, as to our final sentence ; and are 
conscious to ourselves, that we are not ready 
for our great account. This makes death 
so terrible. Considering withal that it is 
inevitable ; the way of all the living. For 
tho' the curse be rem >ved, and the sting he 
taken out by our blessed Saviour ; so that 
the souls of believers are safe and shall not 
be touched by the second death ; yet God 
hath not taken away the stroke of it from 
the body. Though a Christian is assured 
of deliverance from hell, he is not exempt- 
ed from the grave, as his passage to heaven* 

Prepare me, Lord, by the free remis- 
sion of all my sins, and make me meet for 



40 Serious Reflections 

the blessed inheritance, by thy sanctifying' 
grace : and then thy time is best ; Thy holy- 
will be done. No matter then, whether my 
death be violent, or that we call natural. It 
will be one of the two, for I can't expect to 
he translated, by a miraculous change, as 
holy Enoch was.; and as they shall be, 
found aiive in the world, when our glorious 
Judore shall come a^rain. There are but 

o o 

those three -ways of leaving earth ; and the 
three fit si men, of whose departure we read 
in scripture, are instances of all three. 
Abel of a violent deaths Ad am- of a natur- 
al one, and Enoch of a translation. The 
variety and order of their departure, as one 
observes, is very admirable, and deserves 
to be considered. For all mankind must 
follow one or other of those three examples, 
Every man or woman, that is born into the 
world, must leare it by one of those three 
ways ; either be cut off by a violent death r 
as Abel the first man who died ; or die a 
natural dedthy as A bam did, who was the 
second ; or be translated, as Enoch, who 
was the third we read of. 

But though I know, that within a few- 
years at farthest, I must leave this world 
hy one or other of these ways; tho' I have 
been dying ever since I began to live ; & am 
dead to the last year, & to all the proceeding- 
portions of my time ; and know vvidial, that 
what remains will quickly pass and be gone 
after the same manner ; yet how have I 
over-loved this body, as if I never should 
live out of it : and. set my heart and affcc* 



on 



Time ^^Eternity. 41 



lions on this world, as if I should never re- 
move to another! and trifled away my pre- 
cioua time and life, as if a change would 
never come ? 

That few do so seriously admit such 
thoughts is too evident, by the general 
course and practice of their lives, For to 
what hazards do men expose themselves ? 
What pains will they take ? What incon- 
veniences will they bear ? With what un- 
wearied industry will they toil and labor, to 
get a little money, or honor in this world, 
though they know not but they may be 
called out of it, before the end of this year ? 
And yet the same persons are remiss and 
slothful about a future life ; negligent and 
unconcerned about an eternal state ; care- 
less and indifferent, yea sottishly stupid, 
about the welfare of their immortal souls. 
Henceforward, O my soul ! Whatever oth- 
ers do, let me resolve to live in the expec- 
tation of a change i which I know is ^prtain, 
ftbd may be very near. 



« 



42 Serious R fc f l e g i i o x & 

OQOaQQ SGQQQQSQQOQgQQSf " 

Sect. XL 

Of the expectation of another, life. The 
vanity and misery a/* man in his best es- 
tate, if there be none. The satisfactory 
removal of that supposition, by the thoughts 
of God, and 0/ eternal felicity, in his blea- 
ted presence. 

LET me retire a little, my soul ! and 
bethink myself, what a world this is ; 
what men design and seek, and do and suf- 
fer ; with what false and feigned joys they 
are pleased, being only happy by compari- 
son 1 and with what real sorrows they are 
afflicted; what innumerable disappoint- 
ments* sicknesses, (and as troublesome 
remedies,) dangers, labors, pains, and ca- 
lamities of all sorts, multitudes groan un* 
der, and loudly complain of? And. what 
little unworthy ends are pursued by all that 
do not seriously seek eternal rest ? And. 
how often frutrated ? And withaE consid- 
er the cares that disquiet us, the errors that 
deceive us, the many temptations that as- 
sault and overcome us ;* how busy we are 
about vanities ; how often dejected and 
melancholy for the breaking of a bubble ; 
how eager and industrious to pursue a shad- 
ow , active and m earnest to destroy our^ 
solves, and one another ; and then reflect on 
the malice and cruelty , jglthiuess and imple* 



<wTim"e and Ert unity. 43 

ty, and great corruption, which abounds 
every where whereby God is dishonored 
and provoked to anger ! After this, what a 
theatre of tragedies must this world appear ! 
What an hospital of sick and diseased, or 
rather distracted persons ! How should I be 
tempted to say, Lord ! why hast thou made 
all men in vain ? In vain indeed, if I could 
not look from this sea of troubles, to the 
haven of rest ; from this dark prison to the 
region of light ; from this deceitful, trou- 
blesome, and defiling earth, to a bles- 
sed, everlasting heaven ; for verily, if there 
be no world but this, every man in his best 
estate, in this>world, is altogether vanity , Se- 
lah- Psal. xxxix. 5\- ' Tis a certain un- 
doubted truth, the prefixed verily tells us 
so ; and that it deserves to be well consid- 
ered, we learn from the concluding Selak' r 
every man is vanity. Not the inferior parts 
of the creation only : but man the lord of 
all : and every man, every Adam from him- 
self, to the last man that shall by ordinary 
generation-, descend from hwrh Not the ig- 
norant, poor, or wicked only, but all the 
individuals of this species. Young or old, 
strong or weak, beautiful or deformed, rich 
or poor, high or low, good or bad> (in res- 
pect of the body, and this present life) ev- 
ery one h vanity ; and this is true, suppose 
him in his best estate, not only in helpless 
infancy and childhood, or in decripit old 
age, not only in pain and poverty, and dis- 
grace ; but in his most settled, most flour- 
ishing, most envied and admired condition 



44 Serious Reflections 

upon earth ; in the midst of strength and 
wit, and honor ; when at best, as to body, 
and mind, and outward circumstances : 
when he looks fairest ; when he shines 
brightest ; in the height of all his glory, 
with the greatest likelihood of a continu- 
ance ; yet then he is but vanity. In his 
frame, in his temper, constitution, inclina- 
tions, actions' and employments ; he is a 
mere shadow, an empty, mutable, inconsid- 
erable thing, and not to be accounted of. 
His heart, his head, his imagination, reason- 
ings, desires, purposes, projects, hopes, and 
fears, are all vanity, and altogether vanity, 
in all the parts, and kinds, and particulars 
of it. He not only may be, but he is so, in 
his best estate ; if *his world be his best, if 
this be our all, and nothing more to be ex* 
pected after death. 

And how should such a reflection strike 
me to the heart, to suppose that after a few 
years are ended, I must return to my first 
nothing, and my very being be (*) swal- 
lowed up of eternal death ! What satisfac- 
tion can I then take in any present enjoy- 
ments, if an eternal annihilation be at hand, 
when I must bid adieu for ever to all that I 
now possess ? What delight can I have in 
the ordinary comfort of life, with this be- 
lief, that within a year or two, it may be 
to-morrow, I shall sink into the dust, and 
exist no more? What pleasure in any thing 
with this dismal expectation ? The more 

(*} Vid. Mr. How's Vanity of Man as Mortal* 



on T kM E and Eternity- 45- 

flourishing my condition is in this world,, 
the more I shall dread to lose it, if nothing, 
better, nothing at all, can be enjoyed after 
death. Some philosophers have ignorant- 
\y urged such a consideration as an antidote 
against the fear of death ; but the admis- 
sion of it may rather deprive a man of all 
the comfort of life. What then is the ad- 
vantage of a wise man above a fool ? The 
exercise and improvement of our noblest 
faculties, would render us more miserable 
than others, if nothing be expected, and. 
certain, when this life is over. Not only 
sensual bat intellectual pleasures would be 
disturbed and destroyed by such thoughts; 
that very shortly, the next year, or day, I 
must disappear ; and all my enjoyments, 
and hopes be utterly and for ever lost, with 
my very being. 

Were the cuse thus, (which. such conse- 
quences evinces it is not,} it were better 
for most men they had never been born : 
whether their condition here be prosperous 
or afflicted. For what comfort or quiet can 
any man have- in plenty and prosper ity,\\'\\ti\, 
this frightful apprehension of an approach- 
ing end is ever present ?. And what conso- 
lation can it yield a man, who is afflicted 
and calamitous* and yet loves his life above. 
all tilings ; to think that he shall not cease 
to be miserable, but by ceasing to be ? And 
what is become of all religion, if such & 
thought be entertained. ? All devotion to 
God is thereby extinguished, all the res- 
traints of vice removed, the floodgates of 



46 - Serious Reflections 

impiety opened, the encouragements of vir- 
tue, the rewards of holiness, the foundation 
of tribulation, and suffering for righteous- 
ness sake, all at once taken away. Lord ! 
confirm my belief of the invisible future 
state of rewards and punishments ! and let 
not sadducism and infidelity damp my zeal 
in thy service, or rob me of the comforts of 
this life, which, if I have any solid ones 
must suppose the hopes of a better. 

Let others therefore, O my soul ! who 
expect not an everlasting heaven beyond 
the grave, place their affections on earthly 
things, and mind this world, as if there 
were no better, no other. Let them who 
doubt or disbelieve the promised rewards 
of eternity, take up with what they must 
shortly leave, and labor for the bread that 
perisheth. But since I profess to believe 
and seek the life everlasting ; let me daily 
entertain myself with the hopes of it, and 
let all the flattering dreams of what is desira- 
ble upon earth, give place to uobler and 
better thoughts. Let me derive my princi- 
pal joy from the promise and expectation 
of that future felicity, and endervor nothing 
more than a meetness to partake of it, 
my God, my God ! thou art my life, and/Vy, 
and portion ; in t-iee, and in thy love, all 
my desires and Lopes are answered, and all 
my wants supplied^ However evil this 
world is made by sin, yet thou art the in- 
finite and supreme good: How mutable, 
how uncertain, how perishing soever are all 
jsuikliuwy things ; yet thou art the rock of 



cnTiuz and Eternity. 47 

ages, the fountain of everlasting' life, and 
hast appointed another world, and anoth- 
er life when this is ended, wherein thou 
wilt be better known Moved, served,honor- 
ed & communicate th) self more abundantly 
than now, to those, the desire of whose 
souls is towards thee, that believe and love 
thee, that partake of thine image, and arc 
devoted to thy fear. The assurance of this f 
and nothing else, will answer the objection 
of tiie present vanity and misery we are used 
to. 

Sect. XII. 



it 



7ie consideration of the death of others, e? 
pectally ^relations, friends, and acquaint- 
ance, how t§ be improved. What instruc- 
tions we may learn by the sight of a dead 
carcase, or a death's head, and the usual 
Motto on it : And what by the death of 
holy persons \ to quicken our desires to be as 
they. 

HATH Divine patience added one 
year more to the number of ray days, 
when so many others were removed by 
death the last year ? Others, whom a few 
months since I knew in vigorous health ? 
wiser, stronger, more likely to live, and t© 
answer the ends of life, than me ; some of 
them my near relations, and useful friends; 
in whose conversation I took delight, and 



4S Serious Reflections 

promised myself advantage by their com- 
pany, and examples ; but thry are taken, 
and I am left. Thy holy will. O Lord ! is 
done : And they who are prepared, are in- 
finite gainers by this my loss. Quicken 
my preparations, by following their piety, 
to meet them in thy heavenly kingdom. Let 
thy long suffering lead me to repentance ; 
and suffer me not to slight thy warning, by 
the death of ethers, to expect my oivn. Lord! 
cure my earthly-mindedness, h practical un- 
belief ; and by all such admonitions of thy 
providence, to teach me to possess, and use 
this world, as knowing I must shortly leave 
it ; and let not the thoughts of my mortali- 
ty wear off, as soon as the funeral of mjr 
ifriends is over. 

Every year seme of other of our acqainu 
once drop into the grave, we attend them 
thither, and lament, it may be for a few- 
days, their departure and removal ; but con- 
sider not, that others will ere it be Icrg do 
the same for us ; it may be before this year 
is ended. Oh ! how soon do we forget 
our deceased friends, and ourselves, who «re 
likewise dying ! and ccunt upon a long 
life, which we cannot reasonably expect ; 
and hug the enjoyments of this transitory 
world, as if our present state would hist 
forever ! Will nothing but our own disso^ 
lution, effectually convince us of our mis- 
take, and folly in this particular ? 

Tho* the arrows of death fly continually 
round about us ; sometimes over our heads, 
when superiors are taken away ; sometimes 



on Time and Eternit*. 49 

fall at our feet, when children and servants, 
and inferiors die ; sometimes on our left 
hand> when an enemy is cut off; and while 
I am pleased with that, in that very hour, it 
may be, another arrow on our right hand 
strikes the friend of our bosom and delight* 
And can wc see all this, that great and 
small, high and low, friends and foes, are ail 
vanity, and drop down dead round about 
us ; and shall we not consider, that vie arc 
a-s vain as they, and must shortly follow ? 
Shall we not by a christian chymistry, ex- 
tract spirits out of these dead botes ? and 
by these examples learn the end of all men, 
and lay it to heart ? 

Whenever I see the funeral of another, 
let me think thus with myself; why might 
not I have been that man or woman, that is 
now carried to the grave ? if we had been 
compared a few days since, it is proba- 
ble I should have been thought as likely to 
have been his monitor, by dying first, as 
he mine. By such an improvement of 
these warnings, the request of the rich man 
to Abraham was in great measure grant- 
ed ; for it is a call from the dead that speaks 
loudly to us, to consider ourselves, and pre- 
pare in time for so great a change : and say t 
as the prophet to Hlzeki ah, Set thine house 
in order, for thou shall die. 

Can we look upon a death's head and not 
remember what we shall shortly be ? May 
not much be learned from its common mot- 
to ? Sum quod eris, fueramquc quod es. I 
am that which thou shah shortly be, and 
E 



50 Serious Reflections 

have been that which thou art now : That 
is, 1 have been as gay and jocund, as brisk 
and merry, as proud ^id vain, as rich and 
great, as careless and secure, as honorable 
and as much esteemed, as beautiful and as 
well beloved, as witty and as learned, as 
thou art or canst be now. I valued myself 
as much upon my estate, and trade, and 
'health, and beauty, upon my education, 
profession , employments, parts, friends, 
family, &c. as thou hast ever done, or 
canst do : I lived in ease and pleasure, in 
mirth and jollity ; I mbided the world as 
much, and indulged myself as much in sen- 
suality, and was as careful of my body, 
pampered and pleased my flesh, as much 
as thou ; and thought as little of a sudden 
death, and prepared as little for such a 
change, as thou dost ; But now my dry 
bones are looked upon with contempt and 
scorn, but thou shalt shortly return to debt, 
and be as vile as I am. 

It cannot but affect us, did we consider 
it, to see divers snatched away in their youth, 
and outward prosperity ; and in the midst 
of their sin and jolly % without any visible 
signs of true repentance : Or in tenible an- 
guish and horror for their past crimes : 
And yet how few do take the warnings care- 
fully to prevent the like unhappinecs ? 
JLord, preserve those strong convictions, 
those serious thoughts, those holy resolutions, 
those lively apprehensions of the life to 
come, of the evil of sin, and the terrors of 
thy wrath, which the sight of dying per- 



on Time ^//^/Eternitt. 51 

sons hath at any time awakened in my soul ! 
O the eloquence of a dying sinner, to per- 
suade to repentance ! Even when he hath 
lost his speech^ and lies gasping, and trem- 
ling, on a bed of sickness ; breathing out 
his last faint breath, and passing into the 
other world, to answer for the crimes and 
follies of a wicked life ! Lord ! revive those 
thoughts upon my soul, and let me feel the 
potver and influence of them, in the hour of 
temptation, and in every time of need ; and 
let the consideration of ihe death of believers, 
the blessedness they are thereby entered into, 
and the holiness they are possessed of,quick- 
en my desires and diligence to prepare to 
follow. When I think where they are, and 
what they are doing, what is their work awl 
what their state, what their continual em- 
ployment, and what their enjo) ments, and 
bow different from ours ; I cannot but wish 
to be with them ; to be as they are, and do 
as they do ; to know, and love, and praise 
God as they. They are not hindered by 
such a clog as this body is to us : or tempt- 
ed by their senses appetite and fancy, to 
sin against him ; They complain not of a 
seducing flesh, unruly passions, low and 
disordered thoughts; of temporal afflictions, 
spiritual desertions, the snares of the world, 
and the malice and subtility of the devil s 
He, who are pilgrims and travellers, arc ex, 
posed to these difficulties and storms which 
they are freed from. They are now rejoic- 
ing in the light of God's countenance, and 
shall ne\ er question his love more, while we 



t 

52 Serious Reflections 

are in teara and sorrows, groaning to be de- 
livered. 

But think, my soul! That They were 
lately such as We are now. They were 
members of the militant church, before they 
entered into joy and triumph- They had 
their conflicts and difficulties, their hour of 
temptations, and time of trial, as we have 
curs. They were slandered, and persecut- 
ed, and saddened, and disappointed, as their 
followers are. They went to heaven the 
same way, and got the victory after the 
same manner, by repentance and faith, and 
humble persevering obedience. They were 
once imperfect as we are now ; and com- 
plained of the body of sin and death, and 
smugglings of unmortified lust, as we do : 
And were sometimes in the dark about 
their interest in the promise, and walked 
heavily by the hiding of God's face, and 
endured temptation, even as we. And as 
we have nothing to do, or suffer, but what 
they met with ; we have the same encour- 
agement that administered to their support ; 
the same God and Saviour, the same way 
and rule, the same" assistance, by the aids 
of his holy Spirit, offered to us ; the same 
promises, and the same rewards proposed 
which they enjoyed, first in faith and hope, 
p. id afterwards m fruition. Yea, they passed 
thro 5 the dark valley, & so must we : Their 
earthly tabernacle was dissolved, and so 
must ours be. We must expect to go the 
same way to rest and glory, and wait God's 
time for our admission. We must finish 



$n Time and Eternity. 53 

first the work which God hath for us to do 
and suffer, and then all tears shall be wiped 
from our eyes ; we shall grieve no more, we 
shall sin no more, but be as the angels, in 
heaven, or as the spirits of the just made 
perfect. 

Sect. XIII. 

JVh at influence the consideration of 'eternity 
would have upon our hearts and lives, if 
soundly believed and considered. Especial- 
ly ■, if the supposition of "dying this year -be 
annexed to it. , 

WITH what humility, mortification, 
and self-denial ; with what serious- 
ness, watchfulness, and resolved constancy, 
would every christian live on earth, did he 
act always under the influence and power of 
a confirmed faith, concerning the life to 
come ? We should not then grudge at a 
little labor, or boggle at a few difficulties in 
our way. What though I meet with inju- 
ries and affronts hardships and inconvenien- 
ces, being now in a foreign country, and ev- 
ery day 1 live, one day's journey nearer my 
eternal home ! Shall I not patiently bear 
momentary sorrows, while I believe I am 
hastening to eternal joys ? Did I look more 
to the everlasting world, should not I make 
the pleasing of God, in order to my eternal 
welfare, the great business of my life ? 
Should I not serve the Lord with more fer- 
vency of spirit. & hi better fortified against 



54 Serious Reflections 

the fears of man, who can but hurt and 
kill the body, nor that neither, without the 
permission of God ? Should I not order all 
my affairs, answer all temptations, mortify 
inward lusts, live in the exercise of grace, 
and in circumspect persevering* obedience, 
in order to it ? Should I not watch more 
over my heart, and lips, and ways, be more 
diligent, to trim my lamp, more crucified 
to thfi world, more careful to call myself 
frequently to an account, and renew my re- 
pentance ? Would not my conversation 
be mope useful and edifying, my discourses 
more savory and full of religion, my pray- 
ers to God more humble .and earnest, my 
charity to men more unfeigned and exten- 
sive, and my preparations every way more 
suitable to such a faith, and to such appre- 
hensions of an ever lasting state? Could 
we carry the thoughts of eternity about with 
us every day, and often admit them in our 
civil and secular affairs ; did we repeat it 
frequently to ourselves, at least every morn- 
ing, as soon as we are awake, that we are 
near eternity ; this grain of incense would 
perfume the whole temple, and be an ar.ti- 
do e against inward lust, and impure tho'ts, 
against the infection and defilement of bad 
comp Tiy, and the snares of worldly busi- 
ness, and do much to prevent vain and sen- 
sual action^, and to cure vain affections. 

Did \v$ bdicve it, and believe it near, 
should we not take as much pains to secure 
eternal life, as we see men do to get riches ? 
Should we not use the same diligence, care, 



onTiMtand Eterhit*. 55 

an • .Pie prudent fore- 

o 

do to. istpovc 

Pk i ear* ? S] we 

wrtrej ice as much in the pron 

of it, ts others do in 

e >- « of som< 

Lord.' [confess and bewail the weakness 

ofmyialti). How oftei? have I c d, 

and said, ; .,. . lCe Q f 

" >li - is too 

much affected with js ! how 

the certainty } t0 m ; nd 

c as 
I have done ! an heart is 

hauRerih . . O crucify iriyaf- 

tet the be- 
. render me 
victorious 01 rations of i 

heart, bv great- 
er measures of a de- 
■>' ^ strc I urgent ; and 

ni the way 
-undent to'th^^ 

eternity , hope for no 
si.srn and into 
but eternity 

comparison 

looked u : 1? 



56 Serious Reflections 

with reference to eternity ! we should then 
endeavor to do nothing unbecoming such 
an expectation. Considering this world as 
our passage, and the invisible future world 
as our abiding country, where we are to 
dwell farzver; whatever we meet with here, 
whether sweet or bitter, easv or trouble*- 
some, pleasing or ungrateful, we should not 
much matter, but as it relates to hereafter. 
And were I certain I should have no lon- 
ger time of trial in order to this eternal state, 
than this one year, which is now begun : If 
a messenger from God should convincingly 
assure me of it : what would I not do to 
prepare for death, and secure the interest of 
eternity. With what remorse and deep re- 
pentance should I reflect on the follies of 
my past life £ With what importunate cries 
should I beg forgiveness ? How patiently 
should I bear calamity •, for so short a time * 
How little should I value the favors or 
frowns of men ? How circumspect to im- 
prove every season of doing and receiving 
good t How careful to avoid temptation* 
and how resolute in resisting it ? Did I 
verily believe I had no longer time to live 
on earth, than this one year at most ! how 
jpnsipid would be the offer of carnal mirth, 
vain pastime, sensual diversions, idle com- 
pany ? &c. How should I value every hour, 
every inch of my little time, under the ap- 
prehension that eternity is at hand ? O my 
soul ! shall I make no provision against the 
possibility of such a case ? Is not my 
change as certain, as if it were this year, as. 



0/jTime and Ef erxitt. 57 

if it were to-morrow ? tho' I am not certain 
it is so near, nor certain but it may be. Let 
me then seek first the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness : Let me fix it well, and 
make it clear, that I have secured my great 
concern^ and am ready for a sudden sum- 
mons. 

Sect. XIV. 

JIoiv a good man may improve and encour- 
age himself, under the supposition of dy« 
ing this year, even in the most uneasy , and 
undesirable circumstances. 

Iv die this year ; then ail my care and 
fears, if I am rich, all my sorrows and 
aides (as to this world) if I am poor, 
I may die this year ; then I 
3 more enemies, no more siek- 
- eh is infinitely better, I shall sin 
-* more. I must shortly die, it may be, 
Wms year ; but there is no other way to 
ptme to a blessed life, but by dying ; and 

for me, and he that 
% never see death. He 

Lfces who was once dead, yea he lives for 
werm >re ; he lv« mised, that I shall be 

With him to behold his glory. He hath the 
th and hell : He is the rcsur- 
ifcttion : life ; he hath removed the 

I need not fear a cen- 
tered enemy. 1J I die this year , 1 mu^t 



58 Serious Reflection's 

quit the company of all my dearest friends 
on earth, but I shall go to better company 
above ; and if they are the friends of Christ, 
we shall shortly meet again, and love one 
another in a better manner than now, and 
never more be parted. 

I may die this year, my friends and ene- 
mies may die too. Let me enjoy the one 
as mortal dying persons, that must ere long 
leave me, or 1 them : and not fear the other, 
who may soon perish, and quickly be inca- 
pable of doing me or others mischief. 

/ may die this year ; . Let me not then 
think much of temporal sufferings , or of any 
evils which may soon be over. Oh ! what 
would condemned sinners in the other 
world give, to be able to believe and say so 
of their sufferings ? 

I may die this year ; and can I won- 
der that I am sometimes sick and in pain, 
and that my body is out of order ? Am I not 
mortal, and dwell in a house of clay, which 
must shortly moulder into dust ; and is if~ 
any thing strange, that such a crazy buildim 
doth sometimes shake, and need repair, an#£ 
threaten a dissolution ? It is a greater won* 
der 1 am any time well : That such a body 
compounded of so many little parts, and s# 
easily disordered by innumerable accident^ 
should be in health, is hardly less to be a* 
mired, than that an instrument of a thousand 
strings should be kept in tune. 

I thank thee, heavenly Father ! for \hi 
many advantages of sickness, to weaken t } M 
po,ver of sin, uHwnjble my pride, and cui*C 



$n Time and Eternity. 59 

my worldliness and sensuality, to rcduce'me 
from wandering, to empty me of self-con- 
ceit, to awaken the consideration of death 
and judgment, to impress the thoughts of 
the vanity of this world, and the eternity of 
the next ; to assist me to mortify the flesh, 
to rule my passions, to exercise patience, 
and quicken me in prayer, and try my faith 
and love, and excite my diligence to re- 
deem time, and convince me of the worth 
and uncertainty of it ; and thereby promote 
my preparations for my final change. The 
great apostle by dying daily, had as many 
victories over this world as he lived days. 
Oh ! that I might so far walk by the same 
rule, as every day to think of providing for 
my last ! and in health to do that which in 
sickness I shall wish I had done ! 

I may die this year ; it may be, by some 
tedious painful sickness, some troublesome 
and loathsome disease. But God huth 
promised his grace shall be sufficient ; he 
will make my bed in my sickness and put 
under his everlasting arms for my support, 
and not suffer me to be tempted above what 
I am able ; he will increase my patience, 
and carry me through the pangs of death, 
and the dark valley, and when my heart and 
flesh fail be the strength of my heart, and 
my portion forever. 

I may die this year; What if it should be 
by an hand of violence ; if for righteousness 
sake, in defence of the truth, for a good 
cause, and a good conscience, and my 
peace be made \i ith God, and I am accus- 



$0 Serious Reflections 

ed for doing well, or innocent of the evil 
which is laid to my charge ; there is ground 
enough for encouragement and support. 
Thousands of my betters have met with the 
like, whose names are precious and renown- 
ed. Innumerable christians have died by 
the sentence of a judge, with more cheer- 
fulness and joy than others, or, it may be, 
than they themselves would have done, by 
the sentence of the physician. The torture 
of many diseases is unspeakably more for- 
midable, as to the mere pain ; and for all 
else, the righteous Lord, who loveth right- 
eousness, will clear my integrity, if it may 
best subserve his own great and holy ends : 
At least, he will stand by and help me,when 
all forsake me ; and if he spe:k peace, and 
give inward ccnsclation % \\hc can speak trou- 
He f And his final juginent, which is near 
st hand, will distribute rewards and pun- 
ishments to all, according to their works* 
Suppose farther, that I should ucnt a sep- 
ulchre after death. There is nothing I cculd 
better be without. If God recehe my soul , 
and will raise my body at the last day, whe- 
ther it putrify and consume under ground, 
^r above it is no great matter. They who 
are alive will be more concerned in that, 
than I shall be : Graves are for the sake of 
the living rather than the dead. The sun, 
the rain, the air, birds, beasts, and worms, 
will all contribute to give me burial, if men 
deny it. The only difference is, that it will 
be a little longer ere I am buried. If my soul 
rest in the bosom of my Saviour, and by 



on Tim e and Etir^i tt. 6 1 

persevering in the love and practice of the 
truth, I have secured my reputation with 
wise and good men, I need not be solici- 
tous what becomes of my body. My Al- 
mighty Judge will raise me % glorious body y 
like his own, and reunite it to my soul, as 
easily, and as certainly, as any of those, 
whose bodies were preserved in caves and 
Taults, in proud sepulchres,- and under state- 
ly monuments. 

/ may die this year ; and shall not then 
have the satisfaction to see my children or 
nearest kindred educated and provided for, 
settled and disposed of. But is not the 
ever living God the same ? Cannot he as 
iv ell take care of them when I am gone, as 
now ? answer all my prayers after thy de- 
cease ? and exercise that fatherly care, 
wisdom and love, which shall dispose of 
their conditions ? save them from tempta- 
tions, and supply all their wants, and exceed 
-all my desires, in reference to them ? and 
fulfil his covenant promise from generation 
to generation, to the childrens children of 
them that fear him t O how ^^ is my 
faith, that cannot trust God in so cemmoa 
and plain a case ! 

Lastly, I may die this year ; mrl not Xwz 
to see the ruin of the anttchristian kingdom* 
a*d interest, and the accomplishment of 
many excellent promises, which concert 
the rest, and peace, find porily, and glery 
of the churches of Christ on earth, in the. 
latter days. But have I not deserved, 
my provoking unbelief, ingratitude, 



62 Serious Reflxctioks 

disobedience, to die in the wilderness, and 
not behold the promised land, or see the 
peace of Jerusalem ? And will not the 
stragglings of Satan to support Babylon, in- 
fer a dismal night of darkruess and distress 
before the expected morning of deliverance? 
So that it may now, if ever, be truly said, 
Henceforth, blessed are the dead ivho die in 
the Lord. And if God will take me to 
himself in the other world, I cannot possi- 
bly be a loser ; tho' I should not see the 
beginnings of a ne%v heaven, and a new 
earth, in this. However, I rejoice in hope, 
and pray incessantly for the resurrection of 
the witnesses, and the rebuilding of Sion y 
and the more plentiful effusion of the Holy 
Spirit (the great comprehensive pronfise of 
the latter times) to effect a glorious king- 
dom for Christ on earth : And my faith as- 
sures me, I shall hereafter see the Son of 
God revealed from heaven, cloathed with 
majesty, sitting on a cloud, leading the 
heavenly host, raising the dead by his pow- 
erful voice, summoning all the world to ap- 
pear to judgment, gathering his elect, and 
finally destroying death, and him that hath 
the power of it, the devil, condemning the 
wicked to everlasting destruction, but ac- 
quitting, honoring and rewarding his poor 
members with infinite and eternal blessed- 
nes.s. 



*fiTiME and Eternity. 63 

Sect. XV. 

Of dying in a foreign country, and of dying 
young. Consideration* proper to reconcile 
tlie mind to both. 

I MAY not live to the end of this year : 
God in his providence having tailed me 
abroad, I may never see my native country 
more. Let me still remember, O my soul ! 
that wherever I am, I am travelling towards 
the grave, and passing to another world : 
that I may live in all places as a pilgrim and 
stranger here on earth ; with affections suit- 
ed to my condition, becoming one who is 
travelling in a strange land. Let me bear 
the iheonveniencies I may meet with m this 
world, as strangers in their travels are wont 
to do. Let me not repine at the ill accom- 
modations of an inn, where I am to lodge 
but a night or two, but encourage myself 
with the assurance of better entertainment 
at home, when my pilgrimage is ended, and 
my journey over. 

One of my dearest holy friends, andjel/ow 
travellers, (whose memory will be ever pre- 
cious (*) with those who knew him) quick- 
ly arrived to his journey's end, and is enter- 
ed into rest betimes. Which of his com- 
panions shall next follow, we know not, or 

(*) Mr. Thomas Bent, who dud at Geneva, 
' :y IO. 1683. 



64 Serious Reflections 

how soon. Lord ! make me apprehend 
the nearness of my change in every place ; 
and if I am prepared for dying, no matter 
iv Acre it be, Ihers is no one country far- 
ther from the presence of God than another. 
The whole world may be considered as one 
great house, and the several kingdoms and 
countries of it, but as different apartments 
in the same house ; and they who tarry at 
home, are no more exempt from death than 
they who travel abroad. 

The cart A is the Lord's, and the fulness 
thereof \ I can go no where to be out of 
his territories, I shall still tread upon my 
father's ground. I had rather be fta Israel- 
ite in a wilderness in the presence of God, 
than a courtier in idolatous Egypt. Abra- 
ham, the father of the faithful, and the 
friend of God 5 was banished from his own 
country ; and should I never set foot again 
on my native soil, there is no reason of 
murmuring against my God, who hath 
dealt thus with many of his favorites. And 
v/hile I have been rn a strange land, he hath 
»ot suffered me to feel the wants and nec- 
essities, and heart of a stranger. Amongst 
a people of a strange language he can, and 
doth provide for me all things richly to en- 
joy. I may set up my Ehenezer, hitherto 
iiath God supplied all my wants. 

The presence of my gracious Father is 
every where the same ; in some measure, 
blessed be my God, I have hitherto found it 
so. And may I not rejoice in God in a 
depart, though ail the world should forsake 



artTiUZ and Eternity. 65 

mc : though all the world should b£ against 
me ? Should I have no other friend or 
helper ; is not God, an infinite God enough? 
and without his favor and presence, what 
can all this world do for me ? If I am sick, 
and in danger of death, among my relations 
and friends, Mthe comforts of the Almighty 
do not refresh and delight my soul, they 
cannot ^ And if I want not these in my last 
agonies, no matter in what part or corner of 
the earth I breathe my fast. If the word 
and promise of God be my foundation, an 
holy hope my anchor, Christ my pilot, 
and heaven my country, I shall not fail of 
being landed there at last. Suffer me not 
to forsake thee, Heavenly Father ! while 
I live ; and do not^hou forsake me in my 
last hour ; and let it come when and where 
thou wilt. If my blessed Saviour will re- 
ceive my departing soul at death, I am not 
solicitous in what country or part of the 
earth it be. 

And that I may not be unwilling in the 
flower of my age and time, in youth and 
strength, to leave this world ; let me think 
often, that no one age or part of life is more 
privileged against the stroke of death than 
another. If I have done my work betimes, 
as my deceased fe-How traveller had, is it not 
better to receive the blessed recompence, 
than to tarry longer in a world of sin and 
suffering, absent from the Lord ? Shall I 
not thereby escape a multitude of tempta- 
tions, sins and sorrows, which others by 
livirg long are exposed to ? If my peace be 
i 



6o Serious Reflections 

made with God, what should make me 
willing to live at this distance from him f 
What should render this world so desira- 
ble, where God is so dishonored, where I 
am so often tempted to displease him, and 
so often yield to such temptations ? 
And may I not fear lest I should fall into 
such scandalous and grievous sins, that may 
bring a public reproach on the gospel of 
Christ, and saci4en the hearts of all my ac- 
quaintance who love the Lord Jesus in sin- 
cerity ? Ry dying early I shall contract 
less guilt, and commit less sin, and see and 
feel less sorrow than others who live longer. 
And tho' I should maintain my integrity, 
yet in this world my highest love and obe- 
dience to God, aqd my sweetest commun- 
ion with him,, is but imperfect. How many 
impediments and diversions do I daily meet 
with, that deaden my heart to heavenly con- 
templations and affections? what disap- 
pointments and sorrowful disasters, to con- 
vince me that this is not the place of rest 
and happiness ? What smart afflictions may 
some of my relations prove I What dan- 
gerous snares may attend me in the remain- 
ing portion of my time ? What opposition 
and hatred from men may the stedfast pro- 
fessing of the truth, and fidelity to God ex- 
pose me to ? What public national calami- 
ties may I have my share of, he. 

But if I consider old age itself, which we do 
desire to reach ? what and how many are 
the infirmities and griefs, and troublesome 
circumstances whzch^attend that state, .which 



on Time and ErrcNiTY. 67 

dying young will prevent ? arc not most 

men, who reach a very great age, helpless 
objects of pity ? A burthen to themselves, 
and to all about them ? And (which com- 
monly happens) may I not then be as un- 
willing to die, as at* present ? As loth then 
to leave the world as new, tho' in a manner 
it will have left me ? For how many old 
men, past the relish of sensual pleasures, are 
yet inordinately fond of longer life I 

Have I not been told by heathens, as well 
as christians, that >tis not the length of time r 
but its improvement, that doth really make 
a long life ? If I have answered the ends for 
which I was born, 'tis not too soon to die. 
No man ever miscarried as to his everlast- 
ing interest, because his life ^ras short, but 
evil. He that is prepared for death, he that 
dies in the Lord, hath lived long enough, 
awd should thank God for a speedy call to 
the possession of that felicity, which the ho- 
liest saints on earth desire and breath after. 
Gideon lost nothing by returning from 
victory, iv/ule the sun was yet high. He 
hath fought long enough who hat!) gained 
the victory. If I have wrought but a few 
hours in a vineyard, and done but a little 
service for my Lord and Master ; and yet 
am dismissed, and rewarded, before the rest 
of my fellow-laborers ; shall I repine, and 
think my Lord doth not befriend me ? If 
he hath any farther seivice for me, he will 
prolong my days and make me diligent, I 
hope, and contented. Otherwise I pray he 
would make me ready to die, and make mc 



68 Serious Reflection's 

willing and desirous to depart this life. For 
to be only content to die, that I may be per- 
fectly holy, and fully blessed, is methinks 
too low for a christian, who acts like him- 
self ; believing the certainty of his avowed 
principles and hopes, and knowing, that 
While we are present in the body, we are ab- 
sent from the Lord. 



Sect. XVL 

The contemplation of our approaching change 
may assist us to morti/y the lusts of the 
flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride 
of life ; to cure ambition, and promote 
contentment* 

ALL that is in the world, saith the A-- 
JTjl postle, is the lusts of the fiesh, the lusts 
of the eyes, and the pride of life. The dust 
and ashes of our own mortality duly consid- 
ered and applied, will help to deaden and 
extinguish each of these. By the pride of life, 
we lift up ourselves against heaven, and des- 
pise our Maker : By the lusts ofthefesh, we 
over-love and indulge the body, and study 
to gratify the sensual appetite: By the lust of 
the eyes, our desires are immoderate after 
temporal and external goods. The thought 
of our approaching end hath a tendency to 
oppose and mortify these lusts ; to humble 
us before God ; to take us oif from the in- 
ordinate love of the body ; and- to moderate 



07*. Time ^/^Eternity. 69* 

our passions to earthly things. It may help 
us against pride y by shewing us the infinite 
distance between the eternal self-sufficient- 
God, and such poor dust as we ; who are 
but of yesterday ; and, if he Uphold us not 
and maintain our souls in life, shall be 
laid in the dust to-morrow : It will mind; 
us of his justice against sin, the parent of 
death, and of all the miseries of our mortal 
state ; and convince us of our weakness to^ 
resist his will, to avoid his wrath. As to our 
fond affection to the body, it may instruct 
us, that it deserves not to be so much ac- 
counted of; it will open our eyes to discern 
the preference of our immortal souls, and: 
what concerns them, to the interest of a. 
perishing bodj\ It may convince us, that 
we are cruel and unkind to our very bodies, 
by over loving them, because we thereby 
contribute to their eternal sufferings ; and 
so teach us to love and use our bodies, as^ 
servants to our souls in this world ; and ex- 
pected to share in glory with them, after the 
rusurrection. It may also help to msderate 
o*ur desires after earthly goods, and so cure 
the lust of the eyes, by letting us see the 
vanity, uncertainty, and short duration of 
these things, and their insufficiency to make 
us happy, and give us true content.. 

The thoughts of an approaching change- 
may, if any thing will do it, damp the mirtlv 
of the luxurious epicure^ and strike him in- 
to a fit of trembling, as the hand-writing on. 
the wall did BelshazzaH. It may dis- 
cover the detraction of living in pleasure,. 



70 • Serious Reflections 

and of care to please the senses, and the 
fleshly appetite, when the end is so near. It 
may likewise check the folly of ambitious 
designs ; that men should make so much 
ado to get into slippery places, and whence 
they ipay so easily fall. Where, being puf- 
fed up with vain applause, they forget 
themselves, and their latter end, till their 
life and glory expire together. Where are 
now the great, and mighty, and honorable, 
who have made such a noise in the world ? 
What is now the difference between the; 
dust of an Alexander or Caesar, and 
that of the meanest slaves or captives ? 
Could their dignities and earthly glory pre- 
serve any of them from the stroke of death, 
-or the judgment of God, or, without repent-, 
ance, from his condemning sentence ? 

Think, my soul t how little it will^ 
shortly signify, whether I have been known 
and honored among men or no ; any farther 
than God may be glorified by it. How 
should it suppress vain-glory * to think of 
being one day esteemed, and worshipped, 
reverenced, and applauded by dying men, 
and laid in the grave the next ? Let me 
rather seek that glory and honor to which 
immortality is annexed ; and labor to be ac- 
cepted with God, at whose bar I must be 
judged, endeavoring to keep the testimony 
of a good conscience ; and then it is no 
matter when I pass thro' good report or 
evil report : no contempt, or frowns or 
threatenings of men need then discourage 
me. Tho' I should be trampled on by the 



0ti Time and Eternity. * 71 

foot of pride, while others are happily in a 
dream for a little while ; and it may be have 
31 prosperous passage to damnation ; I'll 
rather thank God ior delivering mc from 
their temptations, and giving me the oppor- 
tunity and call to hasten my preparations for 
a better world. 

Let God dispose of my condition here, 
and reputation too, as best shall please his 
sovereign will ; only be pleased to keep me 
upright, and to preserve me from everlast- 
ing shame and confusion of face, after the 
general resurrection, and final judgment. 
Vouchsafe me a portion now in thy approv- 
ing love, and own me for thine at last, in 
the great and terrible day of reckoning ; that 
then I may hear the blessed Euge % and en- 
ter into my Lord's joy. 



Sect. XVIL 

The same argument considered farther, sts 

dissuasive from worldliness and earthly - 

niindedness ; and as proper to confute the 

canity of long projects, and great designs 

fir this world. 



A' 



RE the years of my life but few, and 
they hastening to a period ? and may 
this be my last ? Let me not then greedily 
covet riches and abundance, and waste my 
little time to scrape together large provis- 
ions for many years to come ; when I hav* 



72 Serious Ret lections 

no assurance to see the end of this. Is k 
becoming such a belief, to toil from day t© 
day, that I may lay up that which I must 
so soon leave/ As if 1 were to spend an 
eternity litre on earth, and in the mean white 
neglect the one thing necessary. Am I not 
upon the shore of eternity ? May not the 
next tide carry me off? And shall I spend 
any whole life in diversions from the main 
business of it ? Have I nothing else to do, 
but to gather shells, (if they were pearls* 
the absurdity were still the s: me) and pile 
them upon heaps, till I r\m snatched arwaj, 
past all recovery ? Shall Ibe regardless of 
an eternal state, and run the hazard of being 
undone forever, by solicitous care about 
pretended necessaries for a long abode en 
^earth ? (much less for superfluities ;) when 
1 am not certain of the possession, this one 
year ? Shall 1 mrgnify and sc'mne what is 
so soon to be parted with ? Value myself 
upon these things, so as to despke these 
that have less* and envy such as have v:orc? 
and suffer my mind to be distempered, and 
my passions immoderate on every change 
of these things ? 

Though I know besides my own mortal- 
ity, that to enforce the argument, there is a 
principle of corruption in all these things ; 
that our very manna here, in a little while 
will stink ; and bread which is the staff of 
life, moulder ; our richest garments wax 
old, and rot ; silver and gold rust, &nd the 
greatest beauty wither, and every thing that 
is earthly decay a^-d perish. And shall iw>t 



en 



Time and Eternity. 73 



this tc^ch me to sit loose from all such 
things? Can I imagine, that in my last 
hour it will be easier to part with much, than 
little ? Or better in the day of judgment, 
to have a great estate to answer for, than a 
lesser one ? 

We read concerning the patriarch Abra- 
ham, (who rightly understood the transito- 
ry nature of riches, and his own mutable 
condition,) that the only purchase he made 
with his riches was a grave ; chusing to 
take possession of the land promised him, 
rather by a mark of his parting with it, than 
of his possessing it. Did 1 think oftener 
and more seriously. O my soul ! of tarrying 
here but a little ivftilc ; I shotrld more 
ef.sily be persuaded, that a hitle of this 
world were sufficient to carry me through 
it. I should consider more that my heav<n- 
born soul is made and designed lor another, 
an endless world : And therefore should 
not so far forget hit o^cn people, and fathers 
house; as eagerly to pursue and seek 
what is suited only to the body, for a little 
while ; and whereof a little with content- 
ment will be sufficient. 

The same reflection may be netful to con- 
tract our thoughts to present dv.fy ; that we 
may not perplex our minds with fttqg designs 
and projects, which, if we die this year, will 
come to nothing. Our great business m 
this world is adapted to the little porticn of 
tirr.e which is allowed us. Not that good 
designs for the public benefit may not be 
begun by one. and finished bv others ; or 
G 



74 Serious Reflections 

that we are not obliged prudently *o pro* 
vide for those who shall come after n \is, by 
attempting many things of probable advan- 
tage to posterity* But considering the short- 
ness and uncertainty of life, not only should 
the most necessary things be first minded, 
and not puff off by persecuting such designs, 
as may signify somewhat to others, when 
we- are dead : but we should not now .omit 
that which we may hope to compass our- 
selves ; to begin such things, whose ac- 
complishment must depend on the pleasure 
of our successors*. Consideration and faith- 
ful counsel would in this case have prevent- 
ed the fruitless cxpence of many mens time 
and money,, which if otherwise employed, 
might have turned to good account to them- 
selves and others. 

And this heightens our folly, that while 
wc pursue great projects in reference to this 
world, and die without effecting them, cur 
preparations for eternity are neglected ; and 
so we are suddenly cut off in the midst of 
our folly, and all our thoughts perish. How 
easily, how soon may they do so J The dif- 
ference and distance between death and life, 
being no more than that of a lighted candle^ 
from its being bieivn out ; and if it is ex* 
posed to all winds, how quickly may that 
happen ? 



en Time andfktkKvrrJt* 7j 

Sect. XVIII. 

The consideration of the certain near ap- 
proach of an everlasting s~ate amplified 
and pressed, to enforce an holy life. 

IN this world we begin a year, and quick- 
ly come to the end of it ; and ere long 
the little number of our years and days will 
be expired. But when death conveys us 
into the world of spirits, the day of eternity 
shall never be closed with an evening. Of 
how fearful consequence is that death, by 
which* an eternity must be decicted ! What 
attention, what seriousness, what diligence, 
what care, do the decision of so important 
a matter call for? ETERNAL! What 
will be the next word, my soul! How 
much am I concerned to know it ! Will it 
be blessedness or misery ? will it be life or 
death ? Tins one word is the joy of angels, 
and the horror of devils ; the unspeakable 
delight of blessed saints, and the confusion 
and despair of condemned sinners. 

At the creation of the world, time got the 
start of us, and was Jive days older than we : 
but our immortal souls shall endure beyond 
the utmost limits of time, and last as long 
as the everlasting Father of spirits, of whose 
duration there is no trxl. Shall I then 
exist and live, though my body perish 
and see corruption ? Shall my soul, myself 



76 Serious Reflections 

exist beyond the grave, in felicity or mis- 
ery ; and that forever, and according to my 
present actions ? What am I then most 
concerned to mind ? What am I to chuse ? 
What am I most to fear, to wish, to do ? 
What is a shadow of honor and reputation 
among dying men ? What are drops of 
fleshly pleasure, for a moment, to eternal 
rivers of pleasure at God's right hand ? 
What are the sufferings of an hour or two, 
to the pains and anguish of eternity ? What 
can the world, flesh or devil, give me com- 
parable to eternal life .' What can I suffer 
in the way of holiness, that may be set in 
the balance against an everlasting hell? And 
yet how often, my soul ! How boldly, 
how unconcernedly, how foolishly do I haz- 
ard the one, and forfeit the other, for the 
sins and vanities of this world ! Whereas 
one prospect of eternity, should make every 
thing that is temporal^ appear little in my 
eyes ; the highest elevations of earthly great- 
ness, abundance of riches, the great affairs, 
business, and employments of the world, 
pomp and splendor, reputation, and all that 
now flatter the senses and the vanity of 
mankind. 

Oh ! that I could but live, as believing 
and expecting an eternal state ! As having 
it in my eye, managing all my affairs with 
a visible reference to it : discovering to all 
the world, by my behavior and deportment, 
that I do in earnest believe it certain ; for 
be it never so certain, if I do not apprehend 
and consider it as such, it will no more af- 



on Tim e and Etc unit v . 77 

feet me than a fable. Neither is it enoti 
to consider it as certain^ but as n*jr : For 
the most weight, the most terrible thi 
apprehended as at a great distance, will little 
move. Thinking of the long interval be- 
tween, the advantage of being exempted 
from such evils for so long a time, will 
please me more than such distant calamities 
will affright. 

Let me therefore endeavor to impress the 
Consideration of eternity, as at hand, more 
deeply on my heart, that I may walk and 
live, discourse and pray, and demean my- 
self in every thing, as near an unchangeable 
state. Am I not convinced that this is cer- 
tain,, from the nature and operations of my 
soul, from the reflections of conscience, from 
the righteousness of God in his government 
of the world, from the present unequal dis- 
tributions of g J evil by his provi- 
dence, and from the plain and equal assert 
sions of his revealed will ? I have 
to object, nothing to reply; but I fii 
necessity of inculcating and urgi . xn- 
sjderation of it in order to its influence- I 
fi ;d it needful to reflect often, h >w m ir I 
am* tc an endless stare; ink 

iy death, I enter upon it : A 
t/iis instait may be as near me. as my mxt 
thought. • That the holy scripture descri 

contrary c mditions after deal 

y mm and w > nan in the world shall 

share in one of them) as both everl isting : 

The one. by eternal life, eternal glory . \ 

incorruptible crr;y.i, t \ a-i 

G 



73 Serious Reflections 



incorruptible inheritance, an house eternal in 
the heavens, &c. the other, by uuqueancha- 
ble fire, a prison where none escape, eternal 
damnation, everlasting burning everlasting 
punishment, everlasting destruction^ a worm 
that never dies, wrath that ts ever to come % 
blackness of darkness for ever and ever, Sec. 

Think, my soul ! that in one of these two 
contrary states, I must abide for ever ; in 
endless joy, or sorrow : blessed in the pres- 
ence of God, or for ever banished from it. 
And whoever thou art that readest this, ap- 
ply it seriously to thyself, it is thine own 
case. Yea, I tell t&ee from God, that holi- 
ness of heart and life is absolutely necessary 
to the former, and that without it thou shaft 
never see his face, but be punished with ev- 
erlasting destruction from the presence of 
his glory. 

Is this an unquestionable truth ? O let 
me consider it, till I feel the power and effi- 
cacy of so important a principle ! Let the 
impression be deep and lasting ! Let it 
pierce and enter into my s©ul ! to cool the 
heats of lust, to quench sensual and earthly 
desires, and to mortify all inordinate affec* 
tions to this world ; and fix my resolutions 
to .mind, and seek eternal life with all my 
heart ! 

These are not difficult and perplexed nice- 
ities, which wise and holy men differ and 
disagree about. They are not metaphysi- 
cal subtleties, which few can understand ; 
but the express word of God, and the dai- 
ly dictates of my own reason and conscience, 



„ 



on Time and Eternity, 79 

which all christians, and almost all men in 
their i an hour of great temp- 

tat ton) conicss and own; or whether they 
\,, o no, are forced \o expect and fear, if 
not in a condition to consider them 
I] a joyful hope. 

Lord ! cure the unbelieving doubts con- 
cerning the:se great things, which notwith- 
standing the plainest evidence, the devil may 
at any time suggest ! Let a confinnedy^VA, 
be the reality of what is thus future \ that 
my soul may be influenced by them, as it 
is wont to be by things present ! Let it be 
the substance of things hoped for, and the 
evidence of things unseen, and as yet at a 
distance; as if the day of judgment were 
already come, and there were no interme- 
diate time to pass between this and that. 

eternity ! eternity ! the more I consider 
it, the more unfathomable still I find it. Un- 
changeable blessedness, or remediless, endless 
torments ! an eternal blissful day, or ever- 
lasting horror, darkne&s and despair ! life or 
death, glory or destruction, to last as long 
as the immutable, living God ! None of the 
patriarchs who lived longest, arrived to the 
period of a thousand years, which in com- 
parison of God's everlastingness is set forth 
but as one day. But strictly considered, mil- 
lions of years and ages have no proportion 
with it ; because no multiplication of them 
will amount to eternity. Whereas one hour 
hath some proportion to an hundred thou- 
sand years, because a certain number of 
hours will amount to so many years. But 



80 Serious Keflecttok's 

no number of years or ages, never so often 
multiplied, will make up eternity : as no 
substruction of millions of years will lessen 
it : an entire eternity will be still to come, 
and will ever be to come. When innum- 
erable myriads of years are past, eternity 
shall then seem but to begin, because when 
as many more are over, it shall be as far 
from an end. 

O ! that the thoughts of eternity may be 
powerful, and prevailing above all others ! 
that I may judge of every thing by its rela- 
tion to it, by its inftuenc upon ii ! Chuse 
now, my soul ! whether everlasting joys, or 
miseries shall be thy portion : bat consider 
well that thine eternity is concerned in thy 
present choice ; and that this choice must 
be pursued with stedfastness and constancy, 
as long as I live : and what are a few years 
to prepare for an eternal state ? Were we 
obliged to spend several hundred years in 
serious, humble preparation for it, with the 
greatest strictness and severity of life, dur- 
ing ail th it time ; it were infinitely less, 
than to spend an hour or two, in preparing 
for the greatest dignity and employ on earth, 
which can be enpyed but far a few years at 
longest. For to these an hour hath some 
proportion ; but an hundred or thousand 
years have none with an everlasting duration. 
Therefore to sonsider, how many years of 
toil, and pains, and diligence, many bestow 
on the probable prospect of some temporal 
good, should reprove and shame my negli- 
gence and remissness, in providing for eter- 
nity. 



in Time and Eternitt. 81 

Sect. XIX, 

The punishments of the damned considered 
as intolerable and everlasting, and as un- 
questionably certain. What the reflection 
upon bell-torments may, and ought to teach 
us. 

THE fear of the Lord is the beginning 
0/ wisdom, the entrance into the way 
of life, as it is ordinarily one cf the first 
means to awaken the soul to a serious con- 
cern for eternity : Let me therefore first 
consider the endless punishment of the wick- 
ed in the other world, before I enter upon 
the ravishing prospect of the blessedness of 
heaven, promised to the righteous. And 
with what serious trembling should I think 
of the terrors of an everlasting destruction, 
which our Lord shall be revealed from heav- 
en to render, to all who know not God, and 
obey not the gospel. When the wicked shall 
go away into everlasting punishment ; as the 
righteous into life eternal. The dreadful- 
ness of that punishment, the endless duration 
of it, joined to the consideration of its un- 
questionable certainty, deserves the most at- 
tentive thoughts of every man who loves his 
soul, and would manifest he doth so ; by se- 
curing his greatest interest. 

The description of that misery, under 
insupportable and eternal torments, demands 



82 Serious Reflections 

more than a transient view ; because nti>* 
words can sufficiently express the horror of 
that state. What is it, my soul ! to be 
banished from the blessed sight and pres- 
ence of God for ever, and all the impres- 
sions of his holy image and likeness ? and 
to know that this is the fruit of my own 
choice ; that I lost it by my own fault and 
folly ; that I deserved to lose it ; that the 
sentence is as just, as it is irrevokabk ? 
Who can fully imagine the dismal despair 
of a condemned sinner, under this anguish 
of a guilty , self- accusing mind? while under 
the stroke of God's almighty revenging jus- 
tice, with a dfstincter view and knowledge 
than now, of God and his excellencies ; of 
himself and his own vileness and malignity; 
which must greatly increase his rage and 
torment. Add to this, his being enraged 
by the accusations and cries of wicked ac- 
quaintance and relations ; and his being 
mocked, and insulted over, and tortured, by 
malitious damned spirits ; with a clear un- 
derstanding of that glorious felicity he des- 
pised, refused, and forfeited; wi h a deep 
sense of his former madness, in preferingthe 
sinful pleasures and advantages of this 
world ; and this after many warnings, and 
invitations, and calls from God, to have pre- 
vented it ;. and never to be diverted one 
moment from the consideration, sense and 
feeling of his misery, and the duration of it r 
to have all his passions let loose with the 
greatest violence, and nothing to satisfy 
them ; and continually to preserve an hell 






cwTime ^WEtirvitt. 83 



*>f wickedness and horror in himself ; and 
to endure the reproaches, convictions, re* 
grets, snd stinging reflections of conscience, 
the gnawing worm, which shall ttc$A die. 
Who can conceive the unspeakable misery 
of such an accursed state ? So great a ca- 
lamity, and yet everlasting ! 

How long .doth one day or night now 
seem to a man under some violent racking 
pain % in any one part of his body though he 
be under the means for cure, and have his 
friends about him to pity him, comfort and 
assist him, with the hopes of ease in a little 
while, and the certain knowledge that it 
cannot last long ? Oh ! what then will be 
the dismal state of tormented (*) sinners in 
hell ! how infinitely must it exceed the 
most terrible idea we can now frame of it ! 
to languish out a long eternity, in thatgulph 
of darkness and despair, under unpitied, in- 
tolerable torments, without intermission, or 
hope of end ! miseries without measure I 
judgment without mercy ! pains and sor- 
rows intense, and yet endless ! without the 
least succor or relief, relaxation or remedy, 
diminution or change ! without a drop of 
.comfort, without a moment's rest, without 
the smallest beam of light, or the least glim- 
mering of hope ! perpetually dying, and 
never dead ! under wisufferable wrath, 
which yet will be for ever wrath to come 1 
seeking death, and never able to find it, b*t 
eternally to endure all that calamity, which 

{*)M** Mr. Baxter's Saint's rrjl,fart tJ, chjf. 9. 



$4 Serious Reflections 






the conjunction of death and life together 
can render dreadful ! 

What groans and cries will these tho'ts, 
and these sufferings wring from their fcearts! 
but no refuge will then be found, no excus- 
es admitted, no prayer, no entreaties will 
then prevail, no tears move pity. He that 
made them, will show than no mercy ^ and he 
that formed them, will shew them no favor, 
*Tis tuiter, never, that is the killing word, 
that breaks the heart of those hcyeless pris- 
oners, in the place of torment. When once 
delivered over to that prison of Gcd's 
vi rath, they shall no longer be prisoners of 
hope. Judgment shall be brought forth un- 
to final victory ; and the redemption of the 
soul shall cease forever. 

The vain hepes of sinners shall then he 
ended in eternal desperation ; hell Mill be 
full of those who did once hope they should 
never come there, and full of those who des- 
pair of deliverance from thence ; but shalt 
suffer exquisite pains that cannot be num- 
bered, or measured, or endured : but that 
every minute of an hour will seem a whole 
year, and yet must eternally be endured tjf 
miserable sinners, who will not be wise in 
time, to prevent such an intolerable portion. 
Let me therefore, my soul, descend into 
hell by meditation whilst I live, that I may 
cot descend thither when I die ; and be 
fchut up forever in that prison, the place cf 
endless torment. 

Might we but suppose, thst one of those 
miserable souls did let fall hwione tear % in an 



on T i m 5 and Eti b m i i v • S J 

hundred thousand \ cars : and if after lie had 
by this means wept so muth as that Ufa 
tears would equal the drops of water in the 
whole sea, his misery should have an end ; 
this were hope, this were comfort. But alas J 
after that period, his misery will be as fir 
from an end, as when he frst began to feci 
it. It will then be but the beginning nfsor- 
VQyvs % which will never, never* ncix&r end. 

Think, my stul ' that this is the por- 
tion of the sinner's cyp ; this is the wages 
of 8/7, and the certain doom of£nal impen- 
itence and unbelief. 'Tis no politic cheat, 
or melancholy dream, but the express re- 
peated word of God, and Christ, tl e holy- 
prophets and apostles, and the voice of rea- 
son too. Supposing but the immortality of 
the soul, and the power of self reflection, the 
punishment of sinners must needs he ever* 
lasting, as carrying continually an hell with- 
in them ; unless God work a miracle to pre- 
vent it, w hich there is no ground to imag- 
ine he will, or -shadow of reason why he 
should. Cod hath pawned his truth, and 
his (*) eternity, to execute this sentence of 
his threatened wrath. Be is a God of ir- 
ilnite mercy, 'tis true ; but he hath told us 
how far his mercy shall extend. He will 
not exercise one attribute to the dishonor 
.and the disparagement ef the rest. That 
obstinate & impenitent sinners shall thus per- 
ish, is not because the goodness and mercy 
of God are not infinite % but because his oth- 
er perfections are so; viz. Iii3 holiness, 
(•) Dcut.'ixxii. 4©. 41. 
H 



80 Serious Rjei lections 

justice,, truth, sovereignty and wisdom. 
Was it wisdom and goodness to annex such 
■a penalty to the violation of his law ; and 
can it be inconsistent with them to inflict his 
threatened wrath ? 

Shall we suppose Gcd to uphold his do- 
minion and government by a falsehood ? to 
keep the world in awe by the menaces ef 
such punishments, as shall no where, never t 
be executed ? Is it unlikely, that God 
should exercise so much severity ? And is 
it not as improbable, that his repeated word 
and oath should prove false ? Is it not a 
righteous thing with Gcd, as the governor 
of the world, thus to punish the obstinate 
despisers of his grace ? Who slighted his 
authority, disobeyed his law, affronted his 
sovereignty, derided his power, denied his 
truth, contradicted his holiness, and joined 
issue with the devil, to pull him from his 
throne ; who abused his patience and long 
suffering, and scorned all his threatening* ; 
who thrust away their own happiness, and 
would not take warning ; who burst all bis 
bands asunder, and broke through all ob- 
structions ; and would not be stopped in 
their course of vanity and folly, or so much 
as consider their danger ; who rejected his 
call to repentance, and refused his merer, 
when it was offered ; and preferred a lust 
before his favor, and the pleasures and prof- 
its of this world before the heavenly glory ; 
and notwithstanding all the methods of his 
grace, and the checks of his providence, 
and of their own conscience, they will go 
on. they will die P 



6MTiue ^/Eternity. 87 

Let me, my soul ! adore the sovereign 

justice of God in all his judgments, and 

tremble at the threatening* of that eternal 

vtrath % which so few eonsidcr or believe, 

'till 'tis too late. Let the foresight and the 

fear of such an intolerable, endless punish- 

ment, be a means to save me from it ! Let 

me herein read the evil of sin, and learn to 

abhor and avoid it. liet me pity, and warn, 

and counsel, and pray for those of my re- 

huions or acquaintance who live in sin, and 

run the hazard of this eternal ruin. Let me 

not envy the foolish mirth, and momentary 

prosperity of the wicked, whose present 

joy must ere long empire, and an everlast- 

i )g destruction succeed in irs room. (* )Ko-y 

joy of the hypocrite ! and the tri* 

t xzlckcd is but f f )r a moment* 

Let me fear and dread every thing that leads 

to this dismal issue, and improve every thing 

that may help me to escape it. And by con- 

icnce, let me less value all the good and 

evil of this present life ; juitge of all things 

by this Sight ; be patient under temporal 

eSj and thank God that this is not 

ink him more, that present suf- 

:gs do help to save me from eternal 

one?,. 

atever I can &u2er in this world, let 

condition be never so dark, and sad, and 

!, it is not, it cannot be such, but 

F the dunned would think it 

an infinite happiness to exchange with me, 

<;s I am. Let me think of those cx- 

(*j Job xxv. 5. 



S3- Serious Refuections 

quisite and eternal flames, to cure my impa- 
tience under the sharpest trials and a (Mic- 
tions I may now suffer. 

Did 1 bdieviiTgly consider an everlasting 
Hell* I should not think much ©f any thing 
that is required to prevent it. The severest 
exercises of religion, the strictest temper- 
smce, the nicest chastity, the largest charity, 
the greatest self-denial, Till the hardships of 
repentance and mortification, and continu- 
ance therein to the death, though for many 
years more than I am like to live, would be 
reckoned easy as well as just, if set in the 
balance against the eternal miseries of the 
damned. 

What will not men do and suffer, to { 
vent a temporal death ? They will endure 
a painful course of physic; tear out their 
very bowels by purges and vomits ; and are 
content to be cut and sacrificed, and to suf- 
fer any thing almost to save their lives : 
But how little will they do to be saved from 
the wrath to come ! One would think, they 
should have no rest, or peace, or be able to 
live a quiet hour, till they had made some 
provision against the hazard of this eternal 
destruction ; and look upon all men as their 
friends, ; or enemies, according to the help, 
or hindrances, they received from them, \\\ 
reference to it. But the direct contrary is 
every where apparent. Men are careless 
and secure, jovial and merry in the way that 
leads to hell ; and esteem, and love, and 

*Qjii non experg'tfeitur gJ^ac tvnitruiyjam n<m dsrmity 
Jed mzrtuus *jt . &. A ugu dine. 



, .i help to L: 

them 10 this : .: \ea. such is 

tlwir stuj and su CSS, 

4 suffer to be ft 

i them, in it by Midi a 

I k se so 

much money, or their lives will be in dan- 

reckon i\ 
it k: jr, M 
they ions 

. the he 
per: not rjgcei 

despise the nv and scorn and 

tpleasxrd and an* 

if less the Led, my sou:! :,r ray 

F escaping this 

/:ir /fo/y name* I 
>up- 
portable wr 

Jer, iiy ; 

it Tq 
be d 

in miser] 

:r to be I 
I have so often deserve 

HOW g a'd 

se D tmes ind placed 

in tr 

a life r ;fd;cn:c 

would he lead ? A looc 

^v forme ? Am I no; wort i to 



90 S&ribus Reflections- 

his goodness ? He hath kept me out of 'hcff, 

and offers me the heavenly glory upon rea- 
sonable, honorable, and easy term*. Bles- 
sed be God, I may yet escape the vvraih to 
come. 

Let me heartily compassionate the delu- 
sion of those multitudes oi : deceived, perish- 
ing souls> whose eyes are blinded by the 
God of this world ; who will not believe it, 
till they are convinced by the light of that 
fire, which shall never be extinguished. 
Yea, when I read, or hear of tea or twenty 
thousand men shin in war, (whether of Irk* 
Jidels or Christians J let me think of it, with 
other apprehensions, than formerly I was 
wont to dp* Considering that many, it may 
be the most of these: shall never have awy 
comfort or mercy more ; fearing lest the 
same sword or bullet that gave them a 
mortal wound, hath fixed them under God's, 
everlasting ivrath ; and that by dying, they 
are undone forever. 

In very many other cases, the faith of thi& 
article would rectify my opinion, and direct 
my actions, if seriously considered and im- 
proved. This would make me think of death 
under another notion than ~*tts commonly 
considered. For without the consideration 
cf .'-//annexed to it, it is not so very for- 
midable, bat that heathens have been able 
10 despise it. The most contrary sects 
among; them, on different grounds, have 
been rote to do it ; but consider death as a 
passage to eternal misery, as the gates cf 
bell", as tht end of all comfort to a wicked 



m Timi :-. ; ErrRrrTT. H 

man, and the beginning of an en Jless ca- 

Can be imagined more 

lifty unholy soul. Some of 

m\ f, It may be, who died this 

:>\v among those hopeless, 

jftes, who expect die final 

judgment of God, to consummate their in- 

rap| If they were permit-- 

):ne and tell us what they suffer, and 

: they know ; what a terrible consuming 

Jhrt God is r what vanity, lust, and foHy> 

: them to this place of torment ; what 

jence they would advise us to, while in 

ate of hope, to prevent the like ; if we 

have any love and kindness for ourselves* 

bowels of compassion to our own souls; 

ige do we think it would work 

i us ? But if we will not hear Mo*ES 

and tlu prophets, Christ, and his apostles r 

neither ve believe tho' one came 

torn the dead. 

Sect. XX, 

The eternal blessedness of HEAVEISP con- 
sidered, as the perfection of holiness, to 
icken our derrres and endeavors after 
ireetness to posses: it. 
^|OfH one r sjiother hasten me 

' to the time ? And doth the 

-ednesscfe fid on the com- 

municuions I noty receive from God ? On 
stations I now nfefce 3 arid the tM&C* 



D 



92 Serious Reflections 

ness I can now attain for eteraal felicity in 
the presence of my God and Savior ? O, 
with what intenseness of mind should I now 
prosecute that glorious objjet ? with what 
unwearied diligence shoud I run the race 
that is set before me, lest I fall short of the 
incorruptible crown of life ! How should 
every thing be undervalued and rejected, 
that would divert, retard or hinder me from 
pursuing this end ! Lord, be not a stranger 
to my soul, in this distant wilderness state ! 
let me see more of thy light ! be tranform- 
cd more into thine image ! experience more 
of thy love ! feel more of thy vital pres- 
ence, and quickaing spirit ? let the divine 
life in my soul be more powerful and the 
characters of thy likeness be more legibly 
stamped upon it ! by the daily exercise of 
faith, and hope, and holy affections, carry 
me thro' this world, till my pilgrim state 
be over and thou hast brought me to per- 
fect everlasting holiness I And let the believ- 
ing fore-thoughts of it. fill all the powers of 
my soul with joy and wonder, desire & love! 
Give me, herd ! to think aright of the 
heavenly glory ; as a confirmed state of 
positive perfect holiness ; of heavenly light, 
k)ve, liberty and joy, with the satisfying 
vision of God, in the face of Christ, and his 
impressed likeness; duelling forever in the di- 
rect & steady view of his transforming glory \ 
with com pleat conformity of the soul toeternal 
goodness, truth and love, as its perfection ; 
esteeming nothing,desiring nothing, but that 
God & Christ may be glorified, with an cntif e 



on 



Trui and Eterxitt. 9® 



subjection to his will, adherence to him ; 
rest and confidence in him, swallowed up in 
in the love, admiration, and praise of God 
and our Lord Jesus, living in joyful repeat- 
ed acts of subjection, adoration, and ac- 
knowledged dependarce ; ravished to be- 
hold the glory of God, in the face of Christ, 
to see his blessed image perfect in every 
one of the saints, &.c. When all the present 
blindness of our minds, the errors of our 
judgment, the perverseness of our will, the 
disorder and rebellion of our passions, the 
remaining aversation from God, and disaf- 
fection to him, which in this world we com- 
plain of, sivall all be done away : The flesh 
shall no more lust against the spirit ; or the 
law in our members against the law of our 
minds ; but an everlasting tranquility and 
holy peace take place ; a peace which pas- 
scili all understanding, without any outward 
molestation, or inward cause of disquiet* 

Our corrupted nature shall no more cast 
forth mire and dirt as now ; we shall have^ 
no more vain, or wicked thoughts ; no more 
sinful fears, or foolish hopes ;. unbecoming 
heats, unruly desires, sensual inclinations, 
earthly affections, feeble, slothful, spiritless 
duties, dead aftd heartless prayers, coTdf 
thanksgivings r Sec. But as we shall then 
know God without errors, arid see our Lord 
Jesus face to face, so we shall love hin& 
without reserve, more than now we can- 
think ; and ^erve him without dulness and. 
distraction, and praise him without weari- 
ness ; the spiritual actings of our souls shall 



94 Serhus Reflections 

have no allay or dross. And thus shall we 
be with him, and admire and enjoy him 
without end. 

Thus when dtath is swallowed ftp in vic- 
tory, and what was imperfect is done away, 
and what was corruptible and mortal hath 
put on immortality ? God and Christ shall be 
all in ail ; and when it is truly and perfect- 
\y so, then it is heaven. The blessedness 
whereof is inconceivable* A blessed person 
is not expressed in the singular number by 
the Hebrews, but in the abstract, and in the 
plural. BeatitudeSy instead of blessed, be- 
cause the blessings are as many and great, 
as they have powers and capacities to par- 
take of blessedness. So will it be in heaven. 
A word, tho> commonly used, as little un- 
derstood as holiness ; which is one of the 
greatest mysteries in the world ; but will 
hereafter be fully & delightfully understood 
by the blessed saints ; as the malignity and 
intrinsic evil of sin shall be by the damned 
spirits. 

Oh, that I might now feci more of this 
heavenly life, begun and carried on in my 
soul, by a farther participation of his holy 
image, and conformity to his will ! by more 
* ital effects of his indwelling spirit in my 
soul, forming it to be a temple to himself, 
for his own delightful residence ! that for- 
getting that which I have received, I may 
still be covetous, and desirous of mere ; 
forgetting what I have attained. I may pros > 
on with an holy eagerness and fervency tow- 
ards the mark ! 



cnTixz and Etexnity. 95 

When I seriously examine my orvn heart, 
had I nothing else to prove the weakness of 
my grace, and the sinful umainders of un- 
belief, but the low desires, and the few 
comfortable thoughts, the seldom joyful 
prospect of this blessed state ; how sad an 
evidence were it of my low attainments, that 
I breathe with more impatience after that 
blessed holy rest, in the enjoyment of God 
and Christ : and labor no more in preparing 
for it ? When we profess to believe that all 
the desires of our souls should be fixed on 
hin: y and filled with lum, as our infinite and 
supreme good \ and all the expectations of 
faith and hope swallowed up in endless ad- 
miration, gratitude, and joy; being fully 
satisfied, anel at rest, in the presence and 
vision cf God ; without the least inclination 
or desire of change. And by consequence, 

There will be no need of novelty, as now, 
to give a relish to our happiness. All hap- 
piness in this world is by comparing a man's 
present condition with his past, or with that 
of some inferiors. But the intrinsic good, 
felicity, and joy of heaven will need no such 
foiiio $,zt it off; no such eomparisoa to 
make it prized. The blessed spirits will 
never lose the lively sense of that low snd 
miserable condition, from which they were 
raked to so great a glory ; and so will ever 
equally rejoice in the happiness of their 
translation and wonderful change. And what 
was kt first delightful, will forever be so ; 
and not be disdained, or lessened by a con- 
tinuance ; as it happens in this world, from 



£6 Serious R 1. 1 l k c t i c N s 

the emptiness, shallowness, and vanity of 
the creature. An affection of vanity, and de- 
sire of change, proceeding always from a 
sense of want* But holy souls shall never 
fee weary of seeing, loving, and enjoying 
God ; his blessed presence will afford us 
undecaying and endless satisfaction ; pleas- 
ure, never to be interrupted, or abated, Bad 
rrever to ceaee. The blessed ebjett is abso- 
lutely infinite, and so will be always new to 
a finite understanding, and continual fresh 
communications from his infinite fulness, 
must needs make our subjective happiness 
to be always new, 2nd eternally such. 

Let me by such thoughts quicken and 
excite my diligent endeavors, after a greater 
mectness to enjoy so great a bliss. And to 
that end, consider whether any of these hap- 
py souls, who have finished their course, & 
obtained their prize, do now regret their 
in a^ost diligence, patience and perseverance, 
<Iuring their short abode here, to secure the 
blessedness of an endless life : Nc y no, they 
•are far from repenting the time they spent, 
the trouble they were at, the c;ve they used, 
the difficulties they met with, the sufferings 
they endured, to conflict with the world and 
the fiesh, to resist temptation, to watch over 
their hearts, and words, and ways, to work 
out their salvation, to please God, and be 
faithful to him, &c. They find to their un- 
speakable comfort, and everlasting joy, that 
heaven makes amends for mil that they could 
do or suffer, in order to their coming thither. 
Yea, they find that the}' were not diligent, 



en Time and Etiukity. 97 

and humble, and patient, and circumspect 
enough. That they did not love God, und 
seek his glory, redtem their time, and im- 
prove all their talents and opportunities of 
doing &. receiving good, and give up them- 
selves entirely to pitpaic for heaven, to that 
degree they should have done. They find, 
by the transcendency of the blessed recom- 
pence, that it deserved infinitely more than 
the most active, zealous christian upon 
earth did ever do in order to it. 

Lord ! Quicken my resolutions and en- 
deavors, by such thoughts as these. Inspire 
toy sluggish carnal heart, with hoiv light, 
and life, and zeal, and fervor ? tha* looking 
to the things "which are not seen, uhuh are 
eternal; 1 may (*)/cy up a foundation against 
the time to come, and so lay hold of eternal If el 

But alas ! How much have I neglected 
the great duty of holy meditation ! How little 
skill and experience have I in it ! How tame- 
less arc 1 , insipid oftentimes are my tho'is of 
God ! how confused and unsteady ! how lit- 
tle plensure or advantage have I, by con- 
templating hit highest excellencies! Yet, 
methinks, conld I but retain the same awak- 
ened, lively thoughts of heaven, and eternal 
life, which sometimes I have had ; might I 
continually feel the sweet and sacied influ- 
ence, as for a little season I have sometimes 
felt it ; how little, how very a nothing would 
all this world be to me ! Mow- compel utively 
£, its strongest and most alluring snares 
to draw n.e off r rom God ! with what an un- 
( # ) i Tim.i. 19. 



93 Serious Reflictisns 

shaken mind could I refuse and resist them* 
v/ith what an unconcerned indifference >cou\d 
I look upon all its most charming glory ! 

Cculd I maintain such a frame of spirit, 
as I have sometimes had for t little while, 
in the serious contemplation of divine mys- 
teries, in fervent prayers, and other solemn 
.duties of religion ; when the acts of faith 
were strong and lively, my heart set on fire 
with love to God, and h-©ly breathings after 
him ; admiring his matchless grace to fallen 
sinners, (and to my soul in particular) when 
he brought me to the very suberbs of heav- 
en, tho' alas / how seldom ! ) by the delight. 
ful thought of what the blessed spirits above 
enjoy, in being where Christ is, and behold- 
ing his glory ; when I was ready to ssy 
within myself, 'Tis good lo be here ; this is 
fio other than the gate of heaven ; Oh ! when 
shall mortality be swallowed up oj life ! But 
when I thought at any time to fix and settle 
in such sweet contemplations, how quickly 
did my lazy, backward heart fly off? how 
soon did the flame decay and die away ! how 
soon did I find myself fallen down to earth 
again ! sunk down from the bosom of my 
Lord, presently forgot myself and heaven, 
to dwell among the pots, and embrace a 
dunghill ! 5 Twas not on my own wings, 
Lord ! that I soared so h ; gh ; but I hope 
by the breathings pf that holy Spirit of light 
and }cve. who blowtth when, and where, 
and how long he fisteth ; who gave me at 
any time, any such first fruits of the spirit ; 
jrho convinced me of the ccriawty of the 



onTiiiE. and Eterni i 99 

heavenly vice, by a lively Relieving 

foresight of it ; who made me earnestly de- 
sire tlic wings of a dove to be gone, and 
pear before God in Sion ; made me pant 
and groan to be delivered, and to be with 
God and Christ, with inexpressible desire 
and joy, unconceivably mixed with sighs 
and groans. my God! let not this expe- 
rience be only such a / v.'<? of the powers of 
the world to come, as is consistent with fin- 
al Apostasy ! only the seeming zeal of the 
stony ground ! the rapturous joy of an hyp- 
ocrite ! from the power of imagination, and 
a heated fancy ; from the working of n 
natural self-love; upon mistaken apprehen- 
sions ©f God, and a false opinion of heaven ; 
but by the holy effects, let me be assured 
of the cause and principle ; that it wad cf 
Cod. 

Teach me from the sweetness of a spirit- 
ual communion with God novo, in any of hia- 
>inted ordinances ; to argue to myselJ 
what that most ravishing satisfaction will be, 
that the enjoyment of God in heaven will 
afford the soul. Our holiness is now im- 
perfect to.what it shall be ; and therefore our 
consolation, pence, and joy, is but in part ; 
and incpr ss than we are fissured 

it will be, when wc shall be admitted to be- 
hold the glory of the Lcrd. ? Tis now at 
most, but as the break of day to the lustre 
of the meridian sun. But if in this low im- 
perfect state, we can sometimes obtain so 
a view of his glory, and feel such sweet 
communications of his grace : how much 



100 Serious Reflections 

more of this consolation and joy is reserved 
to heaven ? If in this pilgrim state the gifts 
and graces, and comforts of the holy spirit 
are so refreshing : O ! what hath God pre- 
pared beyond the grave, for those who love 
him ! If now he sometimes sheds abroad 
his love in our hearts, after such a manner ; 
how much better shall I love him, and feel 
the influence and evidence of his love to me, 
when I shall be with him, and see him face 
to face ? If the apprehensions of this future 
blessedness do now encourage, raise, and 
animate my drooping soul ; O ! what shall 
1 know and see, and how shall I rejoice, 
when the veil is removed ? If a sacramental 
communion with God and Jesus Christ, 
be sometimes so sweet and so affecting ; 
what will the blessed communion with God 
and all his saints above amount to ! when I 
shall sit down with all the children of God, 
in the presence of the bridegroom, at the 
last great supper of the Lamb in glory ! If 
the earnest of our inheritance be so reviving, 
what will be the full possession of it ? If the 
hopes of that glorious day, by holy medita- 
tion, be so transporting ? what will be the 
end of our faith and hope ? If a grape or two 
in the wilderness be such a cordial t what will 
be the whole vintage in the land of promise? 
Shall I after all this, forget my own ex- 
perience, and run from God and heaven, to 
embrace or seek a perishing toy ? Shall I 
hide myself with Saut among the stuff and 
lumber of this world ; when God is calling 
me to a glorious frown ? Art thou, my 



en Time and Euummr. 101 

soul ! a king's son, an heir of heaven. ?n 
expectant of such great ft and yet 

stoop so low ? Hope for heaven, and vet 
grasp this earth ; and hug the vain appear- 
ances of eaithly good ? Hope to be like to 
Gad, (and Oh how glorious an hope is that!) 
to partake of his image, and live eternally 
with him ; and yet be solicitous, anxious, 
and disquieted about honor, and money, 
and temporal interest ! And mightily con- 
cerned about the momentary gratifications 
of the flesh, and the enjoyments of this 
world I Art thou a pilgrim and stranger 
here, and travelling home to the heavenly 
country, and yet eager and passionate about 
earthly things I Should an heart that is set 
upon heaven, (or may be so, and ought to 
be so) should it burn with such kitc/icn,such 
common fire I and neglect the unconceivable 
riches and 7 pleasures, and immortal honors 
of the other fife, and the dawnings of that 
glory upon my soul by the foretastes of it 
in this ! How great is the disproportion be- 
tween the heavens and the earth ? How vast 
the circumference of die one, and how small 
a point the other I How many thousand 
miles doth the sun travel in the heai 
while it passeth but one inch upon a di.il ? 
Oh that my affections were carried to hecrc- 
tnly things with a swiftness somewhat an- 
swerable to the glorious object. And let. 
their motion tor art hi s be rather slow 

and insensible, like that of the sun on a die;!. 
Since I profess to believe, and wait for the 
heavenly glory ; should I not live as seek?- 
i 



102 Serious Ri flection % 

ing such things, as expecting such a glory ? 
And are careles and indifferent thoughts, 
sleepy, heartless prayers, faint and weak en. 
deavors, becoming in such a case ? Shall I 
not mend my pace, and double my diligence 
in my preparatory work, when I can be- 
lievingly foresee the blessed recompence ? 
waiting for that everlasting light of the sun 
of righteousness, which no eclipse shall ever 
darken or obscure ; for that eternal glorious 
day, which shall never be closed with an 
evening. When I shall see the face of God 
in Christ, and be like him, participate more 
of his image, rest in his love, and dwell for- 
ever in the light of his countenance, a^cord- 
ir'g to the prayer and promise of my blessed 
Saviour. 

And ought not such a prospect to sweet- 
en the bitterness of all our intermediate suf- 
ferings ? We are now oftentimes in heavi- 
ness and sorrow ; but, eternity will be 
enough for an uninterrupted joy. When 
we shall exchange all our troubles for ever- 
lasting rest, our prisons for perfect liberty, 
our poverty for the riches of God ; dark- 
less for light ; discord for love ; deformity 
for beauty ; our weaknesses and present 
languishing^ for strength and vigor ; fol- 
ly for wisdom ; disgrace for glory ; sick- 
ness and pain for eternal ease and health ; 
the animal for the angelical life ; imperfec- 
tion and pollution for consummate holiness; 
our sighs, and tears, and sorrows, and com- 
plaints, for triumphant everlasting praise ; 
our losses, affronts, disappointments, per. 



wTxme and Eternity. 103 

plexities, fears, groans & death, for crowns, 
sceptres, hymns and hallelujahs, light and 
life, and buss unutterable ; and such great 
things are fit for us to hope, but too great to 
be now particularly understood, and talked 
of ; while u* know but in part, and see thro* 
a glass darkly. Yea, it seems as if it were 
not lawful to utter them, 2 Cor. xii. 4. and 
now they cannot be expressed, or fully 
known ; For eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
nor can it enter into the heart of man to con- 
nive that prepared glory. 

Sect. XXL 

A devout meditation upon Psal. lxxiii. 1$. 
Whom have I in heaven but thee ? And 
there is none upon earth that I desire be- 
sides thee. 

WHAT is there in heaven or in earth, 
Lord ! but thy presence to be 
valued, loved, desired, chosen, sought, or t 
delighted in? There is nothing in either 
world desirable- without thee, nothing cer- 
tainly above tttee, nothing in comparison 
with thee. In thee alone I trust ; on thee 
I depend , in thee I repose my confidence 
and hope ; from thee I expect all my felici. 
Xy and salvation. Whatever I can lose, yet 
with the continuance of thy favor, which is 
my life, I have still enough. With that I 
am rich, without it I am poor and miserable. 
And if I want the love of God, ail that heav- 



10 £ Serious Reflections 

en and earth can give besides, will not make 
me happy. In thee therefore, I would ter- 
minate ail my affections, all my devotions L 
there is nothing of heaven to be had on earthy 
but in thy favor, image, and love, and the 
reviving sense of it. And all the heaven I 
expect hereafter, 'tis in the more full and 
immediate communications of these, in thy 
blessed presence. I can desire nothing up- 
on earth ; I can enjoy nothing in heaven but 
thee ! both here and there thou art y and 
shall ever ^all-sufiicient, satisfactory por- 
tion, my everlasting all! none else can be 
the portion of my soul. Nothing else can fill 
up all its wants, answer all its cravings, be 
suited to all its capacities, appease and* 
charm all iter restless motions, and give 
complacence to allits desirea, and be the 
proper object of all its affections. 

What is there else can justly claim my 
love, or pretend to my supreme affection iiv 
comparison with God ? Thou art alone the 
proper centre of it. Thine infinite and in- 
comparable excellencies, (who art love Uself) 
deserves my choicest love ; and thy num- 
berless mercies and benefits challenge it as a 
just debt ; as a piece of homage due from 
all, and of special gratitude also from me. 
Oh, that I could love thee above all things t 
who alone art worthy of all my love ! O that 
divine love might be the ruling principle 
within me! to inspire all my thoughts, to 
regulate all my desires, to set all the pow- 
ers cf my soul on work ! O that it might 
"take the full possession of my heart, and *o 



on Time and Etirkity. 105 

animate and order all my actions to please 
him, whom my soul lovcth ! If as yet I can- 
not say with thine apostle; Lord! thou 
knowtst all things, thou know est that I love 
thee : yet I can say, Lord ! thou knowest 
that I -would love thee ! Thou hast provid- 
ed for our happiness, by the first and great 
command of loving thee with all our hearts, 
and souls, and strength* But alas ! how 
backward is my sluggish,carnal heart, to this 
delightful exercise ? fho' I have so oft 
been told, that God is love, and that he that 
dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in 
him. O shed abroad thy love into my soul ! 
that I may feci ihe vital power and influence 
of it, and live continually in the loveof God, 
and that nothing may ever be able to separ- 
ate me from it. 

Whom have I in heaven or earth to hope 
in but thee ? I expect more from creatures, 
than they can, or will perform ; but God 
can do for me more abundantly than I can 
ask or think ; exceed my largest thoughts* 
out-strip my highest expectations. And no 
man was ever disappointed, who made thee 
his hope . When I meet with crosses and 
wrongs, unfaithfulness, contempt, hatred and 
persecution from men, I need not wonder \ 
I was never told by God it would be other- 
wise here. Did I look for less from 
creatures, and expect more from God ; 
Did I reckon this world to be a state 
of trial, and not a place of rest and sat- 
isfaction ; my faith and my desires would 
be stronger, with respect to God and heav- 



1 06 Serious Rje r l e cTf o n $ 

en ; and temporal calamities and disappoint- 
ments less afflictive and vexatious. 

And what is there, Lord ! in heaven, 
or in earth, my soul can desire besides thee? 
Is there any thing desirable but as it is thine,- 
of thee, and from thee ? And bears some 
impression of thine excellence, or briags* 
some intimation of thy love ? And what 
can I reasonably desire ; what that is worth 
desiring, or having, l>ut thou art able to ke r 
to do, and give ? 

In whom, or what shall I rejoice, but k* 
thee, O Lord ! shall I solace myself in tran- 
sitory goods, that slip between my fingers* 
and perish in the using ? or relish carnal 
joys, which pollute and debase the soul ? 
When I may and ought to reioice in thee at 
all times, as the only source of perfect ever- 
lasing jay. Let me: then stir up my droop- 
ing, desponding, unbelieving heart to re^ 
joice in God ; who takes pleasure in the 
ehearful service St obedience of his children; 
who delightcth In those who delight in him* 
Is not * delighting in God a. most essential, 
vital part of religion ? Should it not be my 
constant frame ? Kath not God sufficiently 
provided:, that it may be so ? Can I say and 
believe, that God is the portion of my soul r 
that he is my Gedy and I hope to live with. 
Mm forever and not rejoice ? Or can I con- 
sider the grace of the new covenant, the 
matchless love of Christ, and the precious 
promises of the gospel ; and not see reason 
to rejoice ? Yea, doth my soul love God, 
and endeavor to please him ; and is not the 
*Vid. Mr, How , of 'delighting in God, 



in Time and Eternity. 107 

very act and exercise of holy love> mixt with 
•unspeakable sweetness ? 

Whom is there in heaven y or in earth, or 
hell, that I ought to fear but thee ? Who 
jhast a negative voice in all the designs of 
men and devils ; an hook in their nostrils ; 
a bridle in their mouths ; to make them 
fulfill thy pleasure, and in every thing ac- 
complish thy sovereign decree. 

Is there any other, in whom I may repose 
my trust, but in thee, O Lord ? the rock of 
ages ? The might of thy power, the un- 
searchableness of thy wisdom, the righteous- 
ness of thy nature, the stability of thy truth, 
the riches of thy grace, and the immutabili- 
ty of thy promises, are a sure foundation 
for my soul to trust to, and rely upon. Thy 
word stands firm forever, and the truth of 
ihine ability, and readiness to help in every 
time of fieed, endures the same throughout all 
generations. At all times, and in all places, 
my soul may trust in thee, aied find relief. 
And they who know thy name will do so ; 
for in the L*rd Jehovah is everlasting kind- 
ness, and strength : to answer all my 
doubts, to supply all my wants, and fulfil 
all my desires. May not God take it unv 
kindly, that I trust him no more ? And is 
it not a criminal unkindness, that I give 
him not the glory of all these excellent at- 
tributes, which are the grounds of truth ; 
by a constant, steady, entire dependence oa 
him for all that I need ? 

I have none in heaven but thee, O Lord ! 
as the object of my invocation and worship. 



108 Serious 'R&frLrr.T-io.»f 

Let other Christians have recourse to//^ 
mediators, and CcVll i:pcn other Gcds ; I will 
make mention oi //7y ft^/wr. and of thy right- 
eousness only. And ask of tl.ee whatever T 
need, for the sake of thy Christ my only 
adorable Mediator. Him thcu hearest al- 
ways ; with him thou art always well pleas- 
ed. I honor the holy angels as glorious at- 
tendants about thy throne ; and bless thee 
for themes ministring spirits for the good of 
thy servants ; but I dare not invoke or 
worship them, because they are fellow ser- 
vants. On the same account, I honor the 
memory of depa rted saints, but neither in- 
voke them, or pay thtm religious worship* 
That glory, thcu wilt not give unto another. 
I have wo precept in holy scripture to direct, 
no promise to encourage, no example to au- 
thorize the invocation of any other, but thee, 
in x:hcm I believe and trust, Rom. x. 14. 

Having such a God in heaven, what can I 
need on earth ? His eyes behold me, his 
wing is over me, his hand can supply me, 
his grace provide for me. I can want noth- 
ing that is good ; unless I should need 
Scmenhat which God, the infinitely blessed 
and all-sufficient God, cannot bestow. If 
thou art the portion of my soul, all mine en- 
emies cannot make me miserable ; unless 
they can void heaven of the presence of 
G<d, hinder his care, bind up his hand, or 
obstruct his love. But tho' my enemies 
cannot, I fear my sins may. They alone can 
separate betvecn CoV and nrn tcul. -And 
considering the multitude & aggravations of 

•I 



in Tim i and Eti: 109 

rss and 
air, if I 

:rcs me, that I have a mediator there ; 

:ihful and a cr 

:S Chru : ; r i r\ \ I 

fcd to be a prince and a saviour^ 

till he hath broi 

t glory , O Lord ! ihou 
f r hear en \ rid we 

.eve, and here to trio? it Whom /^?£ 
I in heaven ! Tliat is the pi von. 

What can I r<ir/A ? This irorld 

is the phee rther of 

: that nhicl 
i life, co^ ; »f 
Besi-e. or fi if is in ^ked 

: . 1 * . T 

a::d the g: c '.perance 

:reate And inc s ; and t/n 

of another kind, are the ^ r .;i 

Oh ! that : of 

: impor- 
tunate desires ! rw me /<? 

fall k 
of heaven, 25 such 2 place cr i 

ymertt ! Spc 

j let j 

K 



110 Serious Reflection* 

Christ, who is the desire of all nations, (thro* 
whom all divine communications are made 
to fallen sinners) be the great object of my 
present desire zn&ioDe! Let me desire noth- 
ing but as in him, and for him ; that be- 
lieving his word, obeying his law, adoring 
his person, imitating his example, trusting 
his promise, constrained by his love partak- 
ing of his image, filled with his grace, and 
comforted by his spirit ; my meditations of 
him may be sweeter, and my love stronger; 
and I may have nothisg more left to desire 
for myself, but that God who hath raised 
and exalted hm would keep alive my faith 
and hope, and holy desires, till he hath 
made me meet to be with him ; and after 
having guided me by his grace, and spirit, 
and counsels, here on earth, would receive 
me to his most blessed and glorious pres- 
ence in heaven. Amen, Amen. 

Sect. XXII. 

The glorious appearance ^Christ to Judg- 
ment considered as certain : The terror 
and astonishment, confusion and despair 
*f wicked Jews and Christians, to behold 
their Judge, and hear his condemning sen- 
tenee to everlasting destruction. 

\/| 7 HEN our blessed Saviour shall ap- 
V pear to judge the world, I read that 
it shall be, in his own glory, the glory of his 
Father, and of the holy angels. If by tht 



on Tiuz and Etx*xity. Ill 

gUry ef his Father be meant that of the di~ 
rinit}', as the Original and Author of all 
tilings in nature ; as the Almighty Creator 
of the world ; and by the glory of his holy 
angels, be understood that of the legal ad- 
ministration, the law being given by the 
disposition of angels ; and by his cvjn glory y 
that of the gospel, as he is the Messiah, that 
in the glory of all these he shall come to 
judgment ; we have a summary account of 
the three different revelations which God 
hath made of himself to mankind ; by the 
light of nature, that of the law, and the mere 
manifest one of the gospel. According to 
which every man is to be judged at the last 
day. 

Tho' we cannot directly tell what, or how 
great our Lord's glory will then be ; we may 
hit retain r :: T: - ^suitable to the dignity 
of his royal person, suitable to the grandeur 
of his Father's majesty ; xvnn tnr ^jtcmmr 
of a triumphant prince \ who is heir of all 
things ; and hath all power in heaven and 
in earth committed to him ; the great Lord 
of both worlds, head of angels and men ; 
and suitable to his glorious office, as Me- 
diator, and the appointed Judge of quick 
and dead. 

If at> his transfiguration his face shone, and 
his raiment was white and glittering ; How 
much more splendid will his last appear- 
ance be ? When the bodies of his saints 
shall be seven times brighter than the lustre 
of the Sun ? And if his members shall then 
be so glorious, how transcendently mere so 



1 

112 Serigus Ra * l z € t i o n s 

will their kead, their Lord appear ? If the 
delivery and promulgation of the law on 
mount Sinai, was accompanied with suck 
circumstances of terrible majesty, how much 
more may >ve suppose the great assize will' 
be attended with ; when he comes to judge 
for the violation of the law-, and the ton- 
tempt of the gespel ? And if even Moses did 
then exceedingly quake and fear, what will 
be the consternation and trembling of the 
wicked world at the coming of Christ ? 
Whin he shall be reteakd from heaven in 
flaming fire, with a glorious retinue of his 
mighty angels, as so many bright stars about 
the more glorious sun of righteousness. 
The lights of heaven shall be eclipsed ; the 
visible sun shall veil' its blushing head, as 
infinitely outshone ; the present glory of 
the creation be all benighted, by reason of 
his transcendent brightness. Yea, the heav- 
ens shall be wrapt up as a scroll; the ele- 
ments melt away with a mighty noise, the 
earth and all its works be burned upland the 
whole universe as one great bonfire, to adorn 
the triumph of our Lord's appearance. And 
this ushered in by the voice of an archangel^ 
proclaiming his approach; and the voice of 
God, supplying the use of a trumpet, to raise 
the dead, and possess mankind with an aw- 
ful reverence of their Judge. 

Thus in triumph, as a conqueror, and a 
judge^ shall he come again, who once ap- 
peared in the form of a servant, to be judg- 
ed and condemned by man. Then he was 
called king m scorn : new he will appear as. 



mTimi and Etirnity. 113 

mi: Kly and hum 

ab once he - our sa:. 

it. TJicn the contempt of nations, and no 

way ci . desirabl en he c 

from the womb virgin mother, tjo~j 

the terror o. rid, when he comes again 

^ht hand of his father. No more 
to be subj ct to a state of meanness, but to 
render vengeance to not God, 

ana 

He has pi s of his 

himself of no reputation, and ac- 

to live : but when he 

il put on a garment of 

ice, to repay fury to the enemies of 

his cross, and make wicked despisers rise 

again to shame and everlasting corner 

thee knee to him in 

I their heads at hhn in 

den: for* 

... as Lo 
* i I him as his prisoner, s 

»ppc re him as his right jc ; and 

know that he iras another j and 

mon The 

false witnesu f W tt- 

one ano*. 
, bel re his 
bar, with the other ^ara w ^o o*ice dragged 
hinn e confound- 

ed to stand before his uittscafa Hit 

c lap. c. e 



114 Serious Reflections 

cructfiers shall behold him on a throne af 
glory, whom they naikd to an infamous 
cross. They shall be astonished to be- 
hold him sitting at the right hand of 
Ged, whose hands they bound, whose body 
they scourged, whose side they pierced. 
They who crowned him with thorns shall 
(.with all the world) behold him with a 
erown of glory. They that spit on him, and 
kmote him on the face with the fist of wick- 
edness, shall have their own faces covered 
with confusion. They that approved his 
condemnation te death, as a criminal, shall 
be senteneecLfrorn his roouth,as their Judge, 
to everlasting destruction. They that scourge 
ed him as a malefactor, shall be beaten with 
many stripes. They that made him stagger 
under the weight of the cross r shall sink un* 
der the guilt and punishment of despising 
it. They that nailed him to the accursed 
t\ec t between thieves and robbers, shall be 
sentenced to endless punishment, in much 
w or^e company. They who gave him gall 
and vinegar to drink, shall not be able to get 
a drop of water to cool their own tongues. 
Where then shall the wicked and ungodly 
of \\\? christian vjor/d appear ; who crucify 
the Son of God afresh, since he hath declar- 
td himself to be so. by his resurrection, ar.d 
the mission of the Holy Ghost, and fulfill- 
ing his threatened vengeance on the nation 
of the ye-ivS) he. 

if the J civs shall have a sorer condem- 
nation than ignorant Heat/iens, who never 
heard of Christ, never saw his miracles, or 



ojiTime and Eternity. 115 

were informed of his doctrine ; how shall 
we escape ? for he will come agate as a con- 
queror and a Judge, and not as a sufferer 
and a surety, as he came at first , and tho* 
he was numbered with transgressors, and 
made his grave with the wicked* at his first 
appearance ; he shall hereafter be attended 
with the shouts of angels, who excel in 
strength, and the joyful exclamations of his 
saints, glittering as the light, and paying 
homage to him as the Judge of quick and 
dead. He, whom we kave despised, shall 
then be encompassed with a dazzling glory 
that will confound us. &e 9 whom we have 
affronted, shall be cloathed with a majesty 
that shall astonish ua. He, whom we have 
offended, shall be armed with power and 
with wrath to punish us ; and all that con- 
tinue to lift up their heel against him, shait 
then be made his footstool ; all that refuse 
to kiss the sceptre of his grace, &hail bt 
broken in pieces by his iron rod. 

The holy scripture doth frequently and 
expressly assure us, that he will thus come 
again, and for these ends. He is exalted, 
and gone to heaven, as the head of his church 
and the king of glory ; and when he fore- 
told his ascension, he gave a promise of his 
return. The heavens are to contain him, 
till the restitution of all things. By his 
providence, and by the holy Spirit he now 
curies on tke designs of his death ; & when 
th^se are accomplished, he will appear 
to the joy of the blessed. He is entered 
as our *for*runner 9 \v\thm the veil,to prepare 
*Hcb. ti. 19, 20, and x. 29. 



115 Scrimis Reflections 

mansions, and to take possession for us, and 
will not always leave us in this dark and de- 
filing world. He knoweth our sorrows, 
and heareth our prayers, and bottles our 
tears, take notice of our groans, and in all 
our afflictionshe is afflicted. Being rccvncil- 
cd by his death, at his first coming, we shall 
be saved by his life, since he lives to make 
good his word of coming again. 
f How comfortable is the news of it ? How 
joyful will be the meeting, to such as expect 
and prepare to see him ? when the sea and 
the graves shall yield up their dead, and all 
the prisoners of hope lift up their heads,arise, 
go up and meet the Lord in the air, and as- 
eend with him to the heavenly glory. But 
who can express how dismal a sight this 
will be to the secure and the impenitent, to 
all who die in ther sins ? to behold their 
Judge (who formerly offered to be their 
Saviour) upon a glorious throne, and all the 
children of Adam summoned before his tri- 
bunal ! to have nothing to answer against 
his charge, and no way to escape his con- 
demning sentence ! They despised him as 
a Lamb, offered in sacrifice to lake away 
the sins of the world ; but shall no longer 
do so, when he comes as the lion of the tribe 
of ' Jtidah, to devour and destroy the ene- 
mies of his cross. Novo they will not own 
him for their Lord, but shall find he is so, 
by the vengeance he will execute. 

As a Jesus, as a Saviour they rejected 
him, making light of his salvation, despising 
his mercy, refusing his grace ; but the neg* 



en 



Tim i ^Eternitt. I IT 



lected gospel will then be a more killing let- 
ter than the £ffft He, who by his ambas- 
sadors, doth now intrcat sinners to be re- 
conciled, will then be as deaf to their in treat- 
ies, as ihey have been to his. Because they 
would not turn at his reproof, hearken to 
the call of his word, and obey his voice, 
they must hear the sentence of condemna- 
tion, and feel the execution of it, whether 
they will or no ; yea, the blood of his ct*ssr 
will upbraid, accuse, and plead against 
them. And whatsoever foolish evasions 
they now make to continue in security, they 
shall then- be speechless and self- condemned. 
Nothing will be able to hide them from the 
amazing presence of their Judge, or frenv 
the wrath of the Lamb. He then will in- 
fiict an intolerable and righteous vengeance, 
an everlasting destruction^ upon all the ignor- 
ant and ungodly world : The greatest, the 
stoutest, the boldest of them shall them Le 
humbled, and stand before Christ's tribunal, 
upon an equal level with meanest ; seized 
with horror, filled with guilt, anguish and 
despair , and find to their eternal confu- 
sion, that the judge is no respecter of per- 
sons, but every man shall receive according 
to his works : the mighty shall not be spar- 
ed for his greatness, nor the mean man for 
his poverty. 

fool ! wretch that I am f shall many 
then say, who now brave it out in pride and 
vanity, unconcerned about a future judg- 
ment ! not to be persuaded by the terror* 
of the Lord, which i was so often warned 



118 Serious Reflections 

and foretold of ! What refuge of hope can 
I now fly to ? What can I say for myself ? 
What can I do to escape, to die, to exist no 
longer ? I would have no compassion on my 
own soul , I would not so much as consider 
its danger : I shall now find none from 
Christ, I can expect none ! his mercy is 
gone, and gone forever ! I am lost, undone, 
tormented, and must eternally be so ! O 
the amazement^ horror and despair of self- 
condemned sinners in that day of vengeance! 
O my soul ! what is there of greater con- 
sequence, or of greater certainty from the 
word of God, than that I must appear to 
judgment, when Christ shall come again ? 
Lord, teach me to believe it firmly, to con- 
sider it often, to lay it seriously to heart, to 
act under the influence and power of it, as 
Ion** «Q I K^r*» • tit at o* *k~ *»*"»xi/ 4»««»« «<»*>* -~ : --~ 

► • -._ «^.vi X. ilVw • iU«-i^ M.*. Cti^. aT < CC*»- i vJ^' / c tut/'* 

from the dead* I may lift up my head with 

a joyful hope, and find the judge to be my 
friend; my advocate, my Jesus* and not my 
enemy and destroyer. 



Sect. XXIII. 

Meditations of the glory of Christ in his glo- 
rified saints, and of the thankful admira- 
tion of believers, when he shall come a- 
gun from heaven, which shall be continued 
to all eternity. 

THE terror of our Lord's appearance to 
judgment, cannot be greater to the 



§n Time and Eternity. 119 

wicked, than the comfort and joy of it will 
be to the saints. When they shall see him 
whom their souls love, ascend with him to 
heaven, and be welcomed, according to hii 
promise, with those endearing words*, Come 
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom 
prepared for you from before the foundation 
of the ivor Id. u It was for your sakes I as- 
sumed flesh, lived on earth, and died on the 
cross, to purchase this glorious kingdom for 
you, which I now come to give you the 
possession of : it was for this I prayed and 
suffered on earth, for this I interceded ever 
since in heaven : I was heard in that prayer, 
accepted in those sufferings, and my inter- 
cession granted, that where I am, you may 
be a!so % to behold my glory. Come therefore 
good and faithful servants, enter into your 
Lord's joy." O what ravishing words will 
these be ! what an extasy of love and kind- 
ness is implied in them ; what matter of 
rejoicing may it now give me, to admit the 
hope that my blessed Saviour will say such 
words as these to me, and bid me stand on 
his right hand, among his sheep ! O what 
an exulting frame of soul will such expres- 
sions raise ! How shall all my doubts and 
fears and sorrows be scattered in a moment, 
and cease forever ! O glorious day, when 
my blessed Lord shall thus publicity ac- 
knowledge me for his own, and plead my 
cause against all the accusations of Satan, 
and the malicious calumnies of all hii in- 
struments ! when I shall be able to say of ail 
my sins and sufferings, as my Lord upon' 
• Mat. xxv. 34. 



120 Serious Ri flections 

the cross, It is finished, it is finished ! My 
warfare being accomplished, fceii g more 
than conqueror ever all, through him who 
loved me, and died forme, and now is come 
to wpt aivay all tears Jrem mine eyes> as it 
were with the napkin that was bound about 
his head when laid in the grave; all being the 
fruit of his meritorious death. Then shall I 
have nothing more to fear, or wish or beg. 
I shall offend, provoke and dishonor him no 
mere ; nor by my folly and scandal, discred- 
it his holy name and gospel ; but by con- 
summate holiness be fitted to rejoice in his 
presence and love, and celebrate his praise 
forever* I shall never more lament his ab- 
sence, or complain of his anger ; never see 
a cloud on his face, or a frown in his look 
any more. No*& I most wait and pray, 
struggle and strive, labor and suffer, desire 
and expect* believe and hope, &c. but then^ 
perfect rest and holiness, love and joy, vis- 
ion and fruition, bliss and glory unutterable 
and everlasting, shall take place. 

All the attributes of God, all the wonder- 
ful perfections of Christ, will then be glorified 
in believers, and admired by them. His 
invariable truth will then be honored, which 
they trusted to, and waited for ; for now 
they shall know and find they did not wait 
in vain, they hoped in his word, and ventur- 
ed their salvation upon it ; and now they 
shall reeeive the end of their faith and hope, 
infinitely beyond what they ever expected or 
believed. 

The glory of divine wisdom will then ap- 



on 



Time aw/Eternity. 121 



pear, when the constitution, administration, 
and design of the mediator's kingdom shall 
be fully known in the admirable order and 
beauty of every part of it, with the eiact 
tendency of all the particulars to one glori- 
ous end, and the whole undertaking crown- 
ed with so blessed an issue. What is now 
a mystery even to believers themselves, and 
hath a veil upon it, shall then no longer be 
so ; all the riddles of God's grace and prov- 
idence shall be plainly understooel. O how 
transporting a view must it needs be, when 
the glory of all the divine attributes which 
God intended to accomplish in and by 
Christ, shall be manifest to his redeemed 
saints! the whole method of our salvation 
will then appear to be the fruit of unsearch- 
able iviidom y Yi\\tn we shall all see the reality 
and substance, and entire scheme of all that 
God designed in, and by him ; all that was 
typified of him, and foretold concerning 
him in the old Testament. How will it all 
appear to be the manifold wisdom of God ! 
Eph. iih 10. 

As in uniting heaven and earth together 
in the person of our mediator, fulfilling 1 the 
truth of a terrible threatning in his death, 
and by the same way accomplishing *many 
gracious promises ; satisfying justice, and 
at the same time she< ercy ; faanifest- 

ing infinite grace and Iding 

•f blood ; conquering death by dying, and 
disarming the law by obedience to it, &c. 

id. Mr. Carnock, on th: Jivinc attribute wifdom. 
L 



122 Serious Re flections 

How wonderfully will a clear view of these 
things discover, and glorify the wisdom 
of God ! 

But the love and grace of Christ ; the in* 
finite goodness and compassion of God, will 
then be magnified in an especial manner. 
What but sovereign lo-oe in the whole con- 
trivance and counsel of God about our re- 
demption ! What admirable love and grace 
in the whole management of that design ! 
What unparalleled kindness in the accom- 
plishment of it, by the sacrifice of the Son 
of God! And how glorious will this love 
appear, when he shall come again to give 
us the full harvest of all his purchase ! With 
what admiring thankfulness shall believers 
then contemplate the unsearchable riches of 
his grace ! In all the parts and instances of 
his humiliation, from his conception to his 
crucifixion and burial ; in all the evidences 
and discoveries made of it, from the first 
promise to its completion, yea, from before 
the foundation of the world, in the covenant 
of peace between the Father and the Son. 
until his second coming, to judge the world 
and deliver up the kingdom to his Father. 

How shall we then admire and adore his 
povocr ful gr act. which snatched us firebrands 
out of everlasting burnings; that effectu- 
ally shined into our minds by heavenly 
light ; col quered the opposition of our 
stubborn wills ; sanctified our carnal hearts, 
rescued us from the tyranny of Satan, and 
the dominion of lust : giving cherishing 
and preserving the holy seed g? grace, and 



*rt Time and Eternity. I2> 

making it spring up to eternal life ; defeat- 
ing the malicious and subtle endeavors of 
the devil to destroy it ; enabling ns to en- 
dure tribulation, and persevere to the end ; 
giving us victory over death ; conducting 
us through the dark valley ; raising our 
bodies, reviving and re uniting them to 
souls, and rendering then glorious like his 
own body , and at length rewarding our 
imperfect services with eternal life. Yea, 
though our best services were mixt with 
sin, our holiest duties spotted, our mosl 
courageous sufferings mixed with unbelief, 
Jret rewarded with a blessedness that hah 
no allay of evil, but all the ingredients of a 
perfect felicity, and nothing to lessen 
and interrupt it. How shall we then ad- 
mire the bounty of our gracious Lord, the 
freeness, tenderness, riches, and the exceed- 
ing greatness and glory of his infinite good- 
Hess and grace to poor believers f 

With what extaeies pf joy and gratitude 
may we iniog'me that our Lord will be then 
admired by all his redeemed ones ? 

Saying iliis is He, who n^de our peace 
\ God, and revered the sentence of 
damnation, which we were under : who 
bought us with the price of his most pre- 
cious blood, bore the wrath of his. Father, 
and submitted to an infamous and accursed 
death for us. He assumed our natu?*e, that 
we might partake of his ; became the son 
of man, that we might be made the children 
of God ; for our sakes became [cor, that -we 
through his poverty might become rich: he 



124 Serious Reflections 

stooped to bear the greatest ignominy and 
reproach, to confer honor on us ; he was 
for a time forsaken of his Father, that we 
might not be so eternally : he felt the stroke 
of his anger against sin, that we might not 
perish under it. He was a man of sorrows, 
and acquainted with griefs, that we might 
rejoice : his agonies and bloody sweat were 
Cor our refreshment, and by his stripes we 
are healed : he bowed his head on the cross, 
that we might lift up ours in triumph ; and 
because we had eaten of the forbidden 
fruit, he hung on the accursed tree. It was 
for us that he suffered the frowns of heaven, 
the enmity of hell, the rage of devils, the 
hatred and persecution of the world ; he was 
judged, that we mieht not come into con- 
damnation : he was crucified, that we 
might be glorified ; and he is now come a- 
gain, finally and fully to effect it. 

O die height, and depth, and length, and 
breadth of the love h Ch\ht, which passeth 
knowledge, but eails for admiration and ev- 
erlasting gratitude ! This is the blessed day % 
we longed and waited and prayed for ! This 
is our gracious, our glorious Lord, whose 
love melted our hearts, whose promise was 
our support, whose word was our rule, 
whose spirit was our comforter, whose cross 
was our crown, and the hope of his appear- 
ance our ch»ef consolation. 

Lord ! What am /, what -%vas L that the 
ever blessed Son of God should do and suf- 
fer and purchase all \h\sfor me ? I can re- 
member when 1 was ignorant of God, a 



0/jTime and Eternit /. 125 

sttanger to him, at enmity with him, under 
the power of darkness, and the devil, 

ing divers lusts and pleasures, hasl 
hell, and lial rath. But he c 

me out of the world, stamped his image up- 
on me, pardoned my sins and embraced 
ni^ in the ar changeable love. 

nary change ' md yet how little did I 
prize hi e his love* exp 
my own, or , ana h 
hira in the eyes of others ! How did I dis- 
honor my p oly culling, as his 
disciple, b) agg y ? But he 
recovered me by repentance, and healed my 
backslid I received me graciously, be- 
cause he loved me freely. admit 
grace ! to pardon, and save, and bring to 
glory such an unthankful wretch, as I have 
been ! to make such a difference between 
me and oiicrs, whom I knew on earth ! That 
the same power, which makes them misera- 
ble, now makes me blessed! That when I 
arc banished from his presence into ( 
lasting destruction, [am admitted to be 

his gl wy and shall dwell with him : 

O how much more do I now see and find, 
thm ever I believed, of the love of Ch 
and his promised salvation ! How much 
more glorious is the person oi my Redeem- 
er ! How much more excellent is the heav- 
enly st;tfe, than ever I thought or expect 

1 could, not ha v< the thousandth 

ich I now see and 
feel. I cannot . id spend an eter* 

mty in admi iog the incom* 



L 



125 Serious Reflections 

parable grace and glory of my blessed Re« 
dcemer. 

Such holy admiration will certainly pro- 
duce the most thankful adoration of our 
Lord Jesus. Saving one to another, bless 
the Lord of fove and glory ! who humbled 
himself so low as our Mediator, and hath 
exalted us so high, as the blessed fruit of it ! 
How can wc ever enough adore and praise 
him, who condescended so far, and hath 
done and suffered so much for us ? Sec 
how the holy angels worship this King of 
glory ! And have not every one of us more 
reason to do so ? O let all the choir of heav- 
en celebrate his glorious love ! and let us 
his redeemed his glorified ones gay contin- 
ually, Let the Level be magnified ; who hath 
loved us, and vjashtd us from our sins in his 
oivn bhod, and made us kings and priests 
ttnto God his Father, and through him ours. 

O merciful Saviour! O glorious change! 
O happy society ! with whom wc shall eter- 
nal Iv adore our common Lord. We can 
some of us remember, when we lived to- 
gether on eah-fi, how we wept and prayed, 
and fasted and mourned together, how wc 
Suffered, and complained, and sinned to- 
gether. O the marvellous change our re- 
deemer hath now wrought for us, and in us ! 
these bodies, these souls, this life, this place, 
this company, these enjoyments, are not 
like those in yonder world. But alas ! who 
can describe what believers shall then think, 
and say to extol their Saviour ! How small 
a portion is it we understand of that world ? 



on 



Time and Eternity. 127 



How little can I conceive, and how much 
less express ? Blessed be God we know 
so much, as the matter of our joyful hopes ; 
;.* d forever blessed he God, who hath prom- 
ised and provided such a glory for us, as 
cannot now be fuliy known. 

What inexpressible sweetness might be* 
lievers taste, by rejoicing in hope, did a more 
lively faith realize ail this to their souls! 
We might listen, as it were, to the shouts 
and acclamations of the saints above, and 
say Amen to their thanksgivings. We 
might behold them about the throrae of 
God, and of the Lamb, with palms o£ victo- 
ry in their hands, a crown of glory on their 
heads, and songs of triumph in their mouths, 
saying Hallelujah : * Worthy art thou, O 
Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and pow- 
er ; for thou hast created all things, and for 
thy pleasure they are. and were created. And 
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to re- 
ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
strength and honor, and glory and blessing. 
And again, Blessing, honor glory and power, 
be unto Jam who sits upon the throne^ and to 
the Lamb, forever and ever. 

Whence is it, my soul ! if indeed I be- 
lieve and expect all this, that I can hear, and 
read, and think, and speak of these great 
things, with no more ardent affection, suita- 
ble preparations, importunate prayers, and 
vigorous desires ? How should the believ- 
ing thoughts of that day promote my heavJ 
enly-mindedness, self denial, contempt of 
*ilcv. iv. 1 1 — v. 12. 13' 



128 Serious Reflections 

the world, patience and perseverance ! 
Quicken my zeal* secure my stedfestnesa, 
and give life and spiru to my prayers for 'he 
hastening of it ? How should my soul r#ke 
toward A&wen, by holy love and desire ? 
Ascend and meet him. get as near him as I 
can breathe after more of his presence, and 
beg him to prepossess my heart, to antici- 
pate his second coming by clearer discov- 
eries of Ins love and fuller communications 
of his grace? Even so, come Lord Jesus* 

0Qe9OB3OQ0Q0<?QQ TKS^C QO@ 

Ssct. XXiV. 
Concerning the examination oj a marts heart 
and hie : The reasonableness, advantages 
and necessity or it* Some directions and ad- 
vice concerning* the time and manner. 
That we may know in what preparedness 
We are for eteriwy. 

I Am hastening every year, every day, to 
the period of this life: I must shortly 
appear before my glorious Judge ; and ex- 
perience those terrors or comforts, this 
blessedness or misery, which 1 have novr 
read of Shall I m>t therefore enquire, which 
of the two belongs to me ! Is it not worth 
considering, whither I must go, and how 
shall I fare, when I quit this body ? What 
is like to be my next habitation ? To 
which of the two unchangeable states I 
shall be adjudged f Shall an enquiry of so 
much consequence be put off, to an indef- 
inite hereafter ? Do I not desire to know 



vi Time and Eterxity. 129 

the worst, while a remedy may be found ? 
Oram I content to die, through an unwil- 
lingness to discover that I am sick ? The 
question to be resolved is of infinite weight. 
Shall 1 not spend a few hours to know what 
will become of me forever ? An error is 
more than possible, 'tis easy to mistake ; 
and the hazard of doing so is unspeakably 
great. How many thousands perish eter- 
nally, even under the light of the gospel, 
who never suspected their danger ? How 
ordinary, how common a thiHg is it for 
men to b^ thus deceived ! how successful 
is the devil in this stratagem against the 
souls of men !* 

Is it not then a most criminal stupidity 
to be contentedly ignorant and unresolved, 
whether I am reconciled to God or no ; 
whether I ar$ led by the flesh or by the spir- 
it ; whether I am in the broad or narrow 
way, which lead to such contrary ends ; 
that is, whether, if I die in this condition, I 
shall be saved or perish ? Can such an in* 
quiry be frivolous or indifferent I Is the %ub~ 
ject of it so contemptible, or my concern in it 
so small, that it merits not to be attentively 
considered ? Shall I never ask my soul, till 
I am leaving this world, (the unfitted time 
of all to begin so important an affair) What 
am I ! To \vhom do I belong ? Whose im- 
age do I bear ? Eo\\) have I lived and what 
do I do ? What do 1 love most ? What do I 
most constantly desire, and c/iuse, ami seek ? 
Hoy* do:h the pulse of my soul beat ? Is it 
quickest towards God, or towards the world? 



139 Serious Reflection's 

fp hither am I going ? What will be the fin- 
al upshot and issue of my present course ! h 
it heaven or hell / must be translated to by 
dying ? What security have I got for eternal 
life ? IP hat provision have I made ! What 
foundation have I laid ? 

How strangely infatuated are most men, 
who talk of an everlasting life, as an article 
of their creed, and say they count upon it, 
that they must dwell in happiness or misery 
forever ; and seldom or never bethink them- 
selves in good earnest, and for any time, 
with a settled composed exercise oftho't, 
which of these two is like to be their lot f 
Or, if they begin to search and try them- 
selves, they come to no conclusion, or con- 
clude too hastily ; they pluck off the plais- 
ter as soon as it begins to smart ; they are 
cither frighted with the horrid prospect of 
pa*? crimes, or, having escaped the grosser 
pollutions of the world, judge too favorably 
©f their own case. They commonly do the 
work but by halves, and so go from the 
glass, and forget what manner of persons, 
they were. 

Let me therefore, my soul ! sequester 
myself from the world, to commune with 
my own heart, to reflect upon my past life, 
and look into my present state, to recollect 
and review the most considerable passages 
of my course and time hitherto. O how 
neglected and disused a practice is this, 
which doth challenge and require our princi- 
pal and most serious concerns about it \ 
And how many begin it> and or* discour- 



en 



Time <w/ Eternity. 131 



aged, ?.nd leave off, without reaching the 
trnil of such an i nquiry ? 

How much wiser in this respect arc the 
chili. 'his world in their generation, than 

the children of light ? Who is so exact in 
his accounts between God and his ewn soul, 
as tradesmen in thtrii dealings with one a- 
nqther ? Who is at the pains to write 
down his $i/w and his mercies ? the grounds 
of his ^tfr, and the encouragements of his 
Atf/r ? Or keeps 2 journal and tf/#ry of his 
spiritual state ? Who doth, at set times, 
once a month, or once a quarter, or even 
once a year, take a just view of himself, his 
heart and his life, and state, as a christian ; 
that he may see what he hath received and 
done, what he owes, and what he may ex- 
pect ; that he may know whether he thrive 
or decay; whether he increase or decrease ; 
whether be go backward or forward; wheth- 
er he be richer or poorer this year than the 
last ? And is it not a symptom that you are 
declining, when \im love not to examine 
your accounts? Is there not ground of jeal- 
ousy and suspicion that you are behind-hand, 
because you are loth to enquire whether 
you are or no ; and unwilling to knew the 
worst of your condition ? Nevertheless, 
without such enquiries, and bringing the 
matter to a determination, at what uncertain- 
tics must we live ? And how inconceivable 
an hazard do all hypocrites and unrenewed 
sinners run ? And how reasonable, how 
necessary is it that we should know, and, 
in order to it, prove ourselves ? We must 



232 .Serieus Reflection's 

therefore bestow time arid serious diligence 
about it. that we may examine matters to 
the bottom, and come to some result ; so 
that we may form a right judgment con- 
cerning our own esse, 

He that would do it to good purpose, 
must endeavor to understand clearly the 
terms of the covenant on G eel's part, and on 
ours : and take care not to judge of him- 
self by mistaken rules ; by a false standard 
that God will not justify ; or by any such 
characters as will not conclude. But most 
men are unwilling to bring themselves to a 
trial, or to Jet conscience deal plainly and 
faithfully with them. They are stupidly se- 
cure, and seek not the necessity of this du- 
ty : or do not suspect themselves. They 
.presume they need net be at that trouble : 
or are so taken up with the world, that they 
cannot find time and leisure for it. And 
many men dare not bring their hearts and 
ways to a trial. There is commonly some 
secret last indulged, which they are loth to 
let go. But most go on in sfa, and perish 
eternally, because they think there is no 
danger of perishing ; and never repent, and 
make their peace with God, because they 
fancy and presume 'tis done already. 

Therefore let me beg of thee, whoever 
thou art, who readrst this, to put tke case to 
thyself, seriously to admit the doubt, wheth- 
er you are not mistaken ; make the svppo- 
siiien, *hat you have not hitherto sufficiently 
considered the state of your soul. You are 
confident that all <&di \ and thereupon 



# IIME tfw/ETERNITV. 133 

arc unwilling to examine farther : But for 
that very reason you ought to question, 
whether it be so or not ? Do but ask your- 
self seriously, what is the ground of your 
good opinion concerning yourself ? For 
what reason can you thus conclude ? Did 
you ever seriously lay to heart the characters 
and description which the scriptures give of 
those whom Christ will own at the last day ; 
and of such whom he will reject and rep- 
robate ? With unfeigned application to 
your own case, have you therewith proved 
yourselves ? And come to a settled judg- 
ment, after a deliberate enquiry ? And was 
the conclusion to your comfort and joy ? If 
so, what influence hath it since had upon 
your heart & life ? Hath it promoted purity, 
thankfulness, heavenly mindedness, con. 
tempt of this world, and stronger desires af- 
ter the image, love, and presence of God, 
and the glory of Christ ? Moreover con- 
sider, 

Is not this a good while ago ? How have 
you behaved yourself ever since ? Have 
you not reason to look back with shame ? 
If you but slightly examined yourself for- 
merly, resolve to do it more effectually 
now : review the sins you have been since 
guilty of; and if you have not done any 
thing considerable of this kind, you ought 
now to begin. It is seasonable to begin the 
year by such ati exercise ; and it will be 
found of great use in all the following parts 
of it : especially when you come to exam- 
ine yourself afresh, in order to the LordH 
M 



134 Serious Reflections 

Supper. For we ought frequently to re- 
new the sad remembrance of our former 
sins ; that from time to time we may renew 
our repentance ', which is the work of our 
life, and not of one day. And he that Com- 
eth to the sacrament, and will lock no far- 
ther back than to the last communion, may 
possibly presume too much, that all was 
then as it should be, and not be humble 
enough. 

If any one therefore resolve in good ear- 
nest upon an holy life, and seriously design 
to prepare for eternity^ as it is necessary to 
make a general review of his life, so 1 de- 
sire to afford him the best counsel I can, in 
order to it. 

It may be adviseable, (*) if you have not 
formerly begun this work, to employ one 
hour at least in a day, for several days fol- 
lowing, in writing down the most consider- 
able passages of your life you can remember,, 
desiring God's assistance therein ; and 
keeping your eye upon your end, in the 
whole ; that is, thinking seriously that His 
in order to eternity, that you now examine 
Tourself. Choose a place of retirement, and 
the most convenient time, that you may not 
be interrupted, and when your heart is most 
serious. Every man may divide his life 
into several parts, as from infancy till he 
left off going to school or was bound ap- 
prentice, or settled in any way of education. 
From thence, till fixed in some employ- 

"t*)V*d. Mr, Baiter's Saints reft. p. 3. ch. 7,8,9. 



on 



Time and Eternity*. 135 



ment ; if a married person, till entered into 
that condition. And from thence to anoth- 
er remarkable period, or to the present 
time. It may better assist some persons 
memory, to consider the several places of 
their abode, and compute according to them. 
In each portion of time, recollect what sins 
you were most addicted to : in what in- 
stances, with what frequency, and with what 
other various aggravations you committed 
them : And what have been the effects and 
consequences of those sins, to yourselves, 
and others, in order to repentance and god* 
\y sorrow. Which must not be judged of 
by tears, but grief, and inward hatred of sin. 
Remembering that no man is the better 
merely for being examined, if there follows 
nothing after it. 5 Tis in order to a judg- 
ment to be passed upon ourselves. ' lis to 
search out our own iniquity, our beloved sin, 
in order to the mortification of it. That 
Gpliah must first be slain, if ever the other 
Philistines art conquered. In some it is 
pride, in others worldliness, in some un- 
cleanness, in others drunkenness, gluttony, 
&x. That you may discover it, observe, 
what sin 'tis you are most unwilling to part 
with ; which you could even wish were not 
forbidden. 

Which you have formerly been most apt 
to plead for, to extenuate, or excuse and 
hide. 

The thoughts whereof do most frequent- 
ly occur ; especially when alone : first in 
the morning, and last at night : and ar$ 



136 Serious Reflections 

most distracting in prayer and worship. 

Which an awakened conscience hatli 
most plainly told you of; under a sermon, 
or at a sacrament, or under some heavy af- 
fliction, or on a sick bed, &;c. 

Which you can least bear to be reprov- 
ed for. 

Which the temperature of your body 
doth most incline to. 

Which your calling, employment, com^ 
pany, and converse, administer the greatest 
temptations for. 

That especially which hath the throne of 
the heart, and sets all the faculties at work, 
to contrive fuel and opportunities for its 
gratification. 

Observe likewise what passion was most 
predominant in each period of time, or is yet 
so ; and what ill effects it hath produced* 
Consider farther what dangerous temptations 
you have met with > how you have fallen by 
them, or been enabled to resist. Consider 
withall the time, and the means, whereby 
God hath at any time formerly awakened, 
convinced, and humbled you ; what purpos- 
es of amendment, and promises of reforma- 
tion, you have ever made ; and how far you 
have, or have not performed them. Recol- 
lect likewise all the special viercies you have 
received from God in every state and peri- 
od of your life, in order to thankfulness* 
The last section of these papers may give 
you some assistance therein, and consider 
what returns you have made to God, for all 
his kindness. 



oft Time and Eternity, 137 

You may do well to consider yourself al- 

so, in the relations you have stood to oth- 
ers ; as inferior^ equal, or superior ; in fami- 
ly, church, or state ; in your calling, pro- 
fession, employment, &c. And examine in 
what more notorious instances you have been 
faulty in your relative duties. How you did 
ordinarily carry it in your place and station ; 
for that is the best, the truest picture of a 
man, which is like him in his ordinary, ev- 
ery d.iy's habit. Particularly reflect upon 
the sins you have committed in company 
with others. By whose example you have 
been drawn to sin ; who may probably have 
been tempted by yours, and bewail it ; and 
# the persons are living, admonish them to 
repent : and if you have injured and wrong- 
ed any, acknowledge your fault, and to the 
utmost of your power, make speedy resti- 
tution. If any of your companions in sin 
are dead, and you fear died without repent- 
ance ; humble yourself particularly before 
God, tor having contributed to their dam- 
nation. 1 know of some who have made 
such a catalogue of their sins, with the most 
observable aggravations of them ; which 
they constantly preserved, and frequently 
reviewed, to keep then* humble, penitent, 
watchful and thankful ; and on some occa- 
sions of secret humiliation, have spread 
them before the Lord, (as Hczckiah did the 
writing of his enemy) covering themselves 
with shame and confusion of face, by con- 
sidering what they have been, and thence 
admiring the riches of free grace, in the 

M 



138 Serious Reflections 

forgiveness of such crimes, thro* the blood 
of Christ. 

Examine me, Lord, and prove me z try 
my reins and my heart ; jor thy loving kind- 
ness is before mine eyes, and 1 will walk in 
thy truth. Thou hast searched me, Lord § 
and known me ; thou know est my thoughts 
afar off ; all my secret sins are in the light 
of thy countenance ; and thou art acquainted 
with all my ways. Set my sins in order be- 
fore me, that 1 may repent, and forsake them* 
Shew me mine infirmities and wickedness, 
that I may watch against them. And teach 
me to judge and condemn myself \ that 1 may 
not be judged of the Lord y or condemned witl\ 
the world. 



O 



Sect. XXV. 
How christians ought to examine their decays 
of grace and piety. The greatness of their 
sin, and of their loss, under such a declen- 
sion : Gvd % % displeasure, and departure 
from them considered, to awaken endeavors' 
oj a recovery. In what manner the faith 
^adherence may be acted by out who hath 
no assurance. 

T cannot but be of use to believers also* 
at stated times to examine themselves, 
concerning thtir languishings and decays 
in grace, falling from their first love to a 
spirit of indiflferency and lukewarmness, 
disorderly walking or unfruitfulness ; 
whether grey hairs are not here and there up* 



on Time and Eternity. 159 

r: them, and they know it not. For God 
may withdraw by degrees, so that his de- 

puture may not presently be perceived. 
And some kind of activity in duty may be 
continued upon false principles, and from 
common assistance, while a christian, as to 
his spiritual state, may be under a danger. 
ous consumption. 'Tis not difficult for 
others to observe it sometimes, and would 
be visible enough to themselves, would they 
spare a few hours to examine the matter. 
The punishment of such backslidings, the 
lo^s of the q g and comforting pres- 

ence of the holy spirit, deserves likewise to 
be e: . into, in order to a speedy rem- 

edy, and should enforce the counsel. 

I mean not barely the ebbing of ajfectitm* 
in the duties of religion, or the want of life, 
and qnicki. m sensible consolation^ 

which new converts (especially such as have 
been red i a course of notorious 

impiety) have more of at first than after- 

ds. This doubting christians should 
particularly take notice of, by the instance 
of the prodigal, who was extraordinarily 

>ted at his first return, but was doubt- 
leas contented after.- ards with the ordi:. 
provisions ol iher's house. Neither 

doth God dispense the same measure to all 
alike, nor to any alike at all times: some 
who are i r services and suflfer- 

Bicts be- 
fore con vers: r share 
rest of their brethren. Neither v ill 
the same degree of grace imparted to &m* 



140 Serious Rift actions 

persons, so discemably move and comfort, 
as it will do some others of a different tern- 
pen 'lis not therefore so much to be the 
matter of our enquiry (if at all it need to be 
so) whether we have more or less of sensi- 
ble joy, in the performance of duty. But, 
whether we are not fallen and declined, as 
to the mzvard vital acts of grace, and in the 
outward fruits of holiness. Whether we 
have such clear convincing apprehensions 
of divine and spiritual truths, and the mys- 
teries of the gospel, as formerly ; whether 
our minds are not become more vain and 
heeedless ; whether our knowledge of God, 
and of the revelations of his will, be as pow- 
erful and eSieacious upon our hearts and 
lives,as heretofore; whether there be not less 
frequency, less consistency, less inward 
satisfaction in holy serious thoughts than 
formerly. You were wont to pray and en- 
deavor, that God might befrst and last in 
your thoughts every day, and, by frequent 
ejaculations in civil affairs, to maintain a 
daily converse with God ; but now you 
mind not whether it be so or not; yea. you 
cannot but know, that it is not thus with you 
still. It was once your burden to be pes- 
tered with foolish filthy, worldly, vain tho'ts, 
especially on the Lord's day, or in the wor- 
ship of God; you rejected and disowned 
them, you lamented and prayed against 
them ; do so much as examine, whether it 
be thus still. 

Consider all your affections, end their 
several objects ; # and see whether a criminal 



€?i Time jW Eternitt. 141 

lukewarmness hath not dffused itself into 
every one of them. Examine every grace ; 
and see whether your faith, hope, love, holy 
desires, and delight in God, be not misera- 
ble abated ; as to the strength and vigor, 
the efficacy and frequent exercise of every 
one of them ; so that your thoughts of God 
are few, cold, and lifeless, without desiie, 
delight, and love. 

Consider the opportunities of public wor- 
ship, and solemn occasions of approaching 
the divine presence. Are they as much the 
desire of your souls, and the rejoicing of 
your hearts, as once they were ? Are you 
not more easily diverted from them, less 
satisfied and refreshed by them ? Are not, 
all gospel-ordinances less powerful and 
quickning, your profit and advantage there- 
by unspeakably less than formerly ? Do you 
hunger and thirst, and pant as the hart after 
the water-brooks, to draw nigh to God, and 
come into his courts ? Do you make con- 
science a preparing beforehand ? Do you 
come with a real desire and design, and ex- 
pectation of profiting, and bettering your 
spirits? Do you join in every part of divine 
worship with that attention, seriousnesss, 
and composure of mind, and taste the sweet-* 
ness and benefit of such solemnities, a.s for- 
merly ? Are such services performed with 
that awe of God, with that humility, fer- 
vency, and intenseness of spirit, as some- 
times they were ? Are you not more neg- 
ligent and unconcerned before and after, 
whether you find any thing of this or no ; 



142 Serious Reflections 

Though your desires are weak, your heart 
flat, your thoughts wandering, your spirits 
trifling, so the work be done, and the duty 
be over, (in how formed, customary, and 
careless a manner soever it be) you consid- 
er it not, you lay it not to heart, you reflect 
not upon it, you bewail it not, or at least are 
better contented, and sooner quieted, and 
take less notice of the frame of your heart 
in such duties, than formerly. 

Examine farther, how His with you as to 
the great distinguishing duties of an upright 
christian, (if performed as they ought to be) 
I mean secret prayer and meditation ; Are 
you as strict and careful, constant and con- 
cientious, frequent and abundant in these, 
as formerly ? May not our closets and pla- 
ces of retirement witness against us ? How 
seldom are we there ? How quickly are we 
gone ! How easily diverted ? How soon tired ? 
How do we triflle in that work, and shuffle 
it over, and take up with the shadow and 
image of prayer ? Our former humble and 
importunate prayers, joyful thanksgivings, 
and sw r eet contemplation of the mysteries 
of religion, compared with our present daily 
practice, will testify that we are declined 
and fallen. 

Moreover consider the evil of sin, and how 
3 r our heart stands affected to it. Is not your 
hatred of sin, and zeal against it, much de- 
cayed ; especially with respqet to inward 
spiritual sins, such as the secret workings 
of unbelief, and distrust, pride, envy, un- 
charitableness, &c ? Do vou bewail it,strive 



*/zTime and Eternity. 143 

against it, ?r,d shun the occasions, and fear 
the temptations that may lead you into sin, 
as once you did ? Have you not lost much 
of that tenderness, and holy jealousy over 
your heart and ways you formerly had ! 
Do you not now make more bold with temp- 
tation ? Are you not oftencr conquered ? 
And with less reluctance ? And by smaller 
temptations, &c. 

Are you not more unserviceable ? Root 
and fruit in a withering condition ? God Jess 
honored, and others less profited and edfied 
by your example and life ? Do you not ad- 
here more to the world ? Conform to it, 
and comply with it in many things, which 
formerly you durst not have done ? And 
are every day .waxing worse ? Make a 
pause awhile, and bethink yourself what this 
frill come to at last, when even the little 
good that remains, is ready to die. 

May I not ask such christians, or desire 
them to ask themselves : What is already 
the effect and consequence of this declen- 
sion ? Is not God's spirit removed, and the 
light of his countenance eclipsed ? Yea, as 
to many of them, are they not under sad 
apprehensions of God's displeasure ? Do 
they not feel the terrors of the Lord ? Do 
they not walk heavily from day to day ? 
They that could once converse with God 
on all occasions as a friend, and a father, do 
now think of God, and are troubled : thick 
darkness doth encompass them roundabout: 
they have lost the sense of his love, the 
comforts of his presence, and their song in 



144 Serious Reflections 

the night, and see no relief. This is a more 
hopeful case however than theirs, who are 
under great back- sliding and desertion > and 
hardly sensible of it. To awaken and assist 
both ; consider, I beseech you, whence you 
ere fallen, and what you have lost, and what 
will be the issue of this, if sickness, or 
some smart affliction overtake you, or if you 
should die in this condition. And enquire 
seriously & presently into the cause of all this 
evil : for a few transient thoughts will not 
affect the heart, and persuade to actios. And 
do it presently ; because by every delay 
your work will be the harder, your danger 
the greater, and your recovery the more 
difficult. Reflect upon the sinfubiess, as well 
as affliction of this case. Know that you have 
displeased God, and run from him, neg* 
lected his presence, and grieved his spirit, 
and in what instances you have done so,that 
hath made him weary of his dwelling ; what 
ordinances you have slighted ; what duties 
you have omitted ; what sins you have giv- 
en away to , in order to repentance and 
deep humiliation. 

Can you contentedly sit still with this dis- 
mal state of things ? While God hath sonic- 
xvhat (yea a great deal) against you for hav- 
ing left your first love ? Will you not en- 
deavor to remove that which hath made 
such a separation between God and you, 
and brought you thus low ? What com- 
munion with God, what communication of 
his grace, what influences of his spirit and 
evidence of his favor have } ou lost \ And 



on Time and Eternity. 145 

will you not acknowledge your iniquity, 
and abase yourselves in the dust, and re- 
turn to the Lord, and do your first works ? 
That he may heal your back-slklings, and 
receive you graciously ; that you may again 
take hold of his covenant $ and be at peace 
with him. 

But to be at peace with God, is not the 
whole of your concern ; you need not only 
a pardon, but a physician to heal you ; as 
doth a malefactor, that is not only liable to 
•the law, but desperately sick. Your state is 
sinful, and dangerous, -as well as trouble- 
some. From performing duties in such a 
manner as you now do, you may quickly 
be tempted to let them altogether alone. 
God may be so far provoked to suffer satan 
to make attempts upon you of that kind : 
(and he is forward enough to make use of 
such an opportunity, to try all his snares 
tmd stratagems against you) till he prevail 
with you to think hardly of God and him- 
self, * Qnthaakfully to overlook ail his form- 
er kindnesses, to put the worst interpreta- 
tion that can be upon all his providences, 
to distrust and quarrel with him, as ii'liis 
faithfulness had failed, and his mercy were 
clean gone forever, and there were no hope 
left for one in your ease ; and so run into 
desperation, and, thro' the subtilty and vio 
lence of Satan's temptations, try the most - 
foolish and unlawful means for ease and 
cure ; either open licentiousness, or it may 
be self murder. 

*ViJ. Mr. Gilpin, o( Tempts ton t part 2. chap. 6. 

N 



146 Serious Reflections 

r I herefore speedy, present repentance is 
necessary to find out, and mortify every cor- 
ruption ; and that especially which con- 
science tells you, you have most indulged ; 
from whence your distress doth principally 
arise ; confessing your sin freely, fully, and 
without reserve, and waiting on God 
in the diligent use of all means, for the re- 
covery of that which you have lost ; and 
justifying God in his righteousness, truth, 
wisdom, holiness, in all his rebukes. That 
you may regain a spirit of prayer and taste 
the sweetness, virtue and eifikacy of every 
duty, and of every ordinance ; and God 
may give you the garments of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness, and the joy of the Lord 
may be your strength, for future service and 
suffering. 

In the mean time, do not cast away your 
hope, but tho' you have (too justly) depriv- 
ed yourself of the faith oj assurance, yet 
endeavor to maintain and exercise the faith 
of adherence (*) ; say unto God, that be- 
cause there is forgiveness with him, there- 
fore he is to be Jeared. My sin is not too 
great to be forgiven. 'Tis not the unpar- 
donable sin : for I desire to repent, and am 
resolved to return, I will still cleave to the 
Lord, and wait upon him, and follow hard 
after him, and take no other course for de- 
liverance and comfort. Mine is not a sin- 
gle case : I am not the only soul that hath 
been so distressed, and yet found relief by 

* Vid* Dr» Owen's on Pfahn exxx. 2. 



#tzTihe aw/ Eternity. 147 

seeking unto God. 'Tis therefore good for 
me to hope, and wait quietly for the salvation 
of God()* I will draw near to God ; I will 
He at his foot ; and continue in all ways of 
-worship and duty, wherein I may hope to 
meet with the quickning and comfort of his 
spirit : I will seek relief from no other I will 
keep as near him as I can ; whither else 
shall I go ? He alone hath the words of eter- 
nal life ; he atone can create (what is the 
fruit of his own Xv^^) peace. 

f I will encourage myself in the consid- 
eration of his general grace, and the proba- 
bilities of his special love : I will recollect 
my former experiences, when some good 
hope through grace concerning my adoption, 
1 will remember the years of the right hand 
of the most high. If God will give me so 
much grace as to continue waiting, I will 
hope still : and though 1 walk in darkness, 
and see little or no light* I will stay myself 
on the Lord. And if, by the want of sensible 
consolation, he will make me more humble, 
and keep nae in a greater submission to his 
Willi I will bless his holy name, and derive 
more comfortable hope from thence, than 
from the most sweet and sensible consola- 
tions I ever had ; and look upon humility, 
self-denial, dependence on God, resigna- 
tion to him, and hatred of sin, as a better 
sign of his lovs, than the highest fei vors of 
affection in his service can be. 

(* ) Lam. Hi. 26. 

+Vid. Mr. Jaxter's mtthtd } for peace of confeience. 



148 Serious Reflections 

Oh that I had formerly done as much for 
holiness, as I ever have for comfort ! by the 
enjoyment of the one, I should have had 
more of the other :. the exercise of grace 
would have discovered the truth of it. Let 
me therefore accuse and condemn myself ; 
but still trust, and love God, and wait upon 
him. Let me resolve never to chase a new 
lord or master ; or take up with any por- 
tion beneath God himself ; or any way of 
hope or salvation but by Jesus Christ, my 
only Saviour ; neither let me forsake the 
way of faith and holiness, for all the hopes 
syid happiness of this world, if put to my 

>ice : but be always able to say/ (bles- 
sed be God I now can) that Iwiff return t& 
myfar?ner husband, for then it ivas better 
ivhh me than now. I had peace and refresh- 
ment in my former ways, I will return to 
them* Lord, forsake me not utterly ! keep 
not thine anger forever ; cast me not away 
from thy presence, and take not thy holy spir- 
it from me : restore unto me the joy of thy 
salvation, that my heart may be enlaged to 
praise thy name, and to run the way ef thy 
commandments. 



## 



on Time and Eternity. 149 

Sect. XXVI. 

Confession of sin, humiliation, and repent- 
ance must follow upon self-examination. 
Advice concerning repentance of some par- 
ticular back- sliding. The great perplexity 
& distress of a penitent sinner represent- 
cdj as a caution against returning to folly* 

THAT we may turn unto the Lord y is 
the end of searching and trying our 
ways. Lcrd ! I have been searching my 
heart, and considering my ways, but can 
find littie, or no good; neither can I discov- 
er all that is evil in both. But I find enough 
to make my own heart condemn me, and 
thou (who art greater than my hearty and 
knowest all things, J may est much more con- 
demn me. I am altogether unclean, pol- 
luted and abominable. 

If I go about to enumerate the sins of my 
thoughts, words, and actions, in all the pe- 
riods qf my life hitherto ; if I consider my 
omissions of duty, and daily crimes by ac- 
tual commission ; if I reflect upon my sins 
according to their respective objects, as eith- 
er against thce y O God, and against my 
neighbor^ and against my envn soul or body ; 
and compare toy heart and life with thy 
strict and holy /<3U\ and think in how many 
instances I have transgressed eveiy of thy 
righteous commandments : I find they 
aore than the hairs of my head, they <a 



150 Serious Reflections 

not be numbered* 11 ho can tell how oft he' 
hath offended? Many of my sins make lit- 
tle impression on my memory, (I observe 
them not, 1 remember them not .•) but this 
hinders not but they may make deep im- 
pression on my conscience, which will one 
day be awake, and set them in order before 
me ; and they are all written in thy book of 
remembrance, in order to my final judg- 
ment* All my sins, are before thee / but thou 
requirest my humble confession of them, 
in order to repentance ; and as a part there-' 
of, that I freely acknowledge their heinous 
aggravations to shame and humble myself 
the more before thee, whom I have offended 
and provoked. 

How 7 long did I serve divers lusts and 
pleasures with the neglect and forgetfulness 
of God ? How sad a prospect may I take of 
the far greatest part of my life past ? espe- 
cially of my younger years, which have been 
trifled away in vanity and fully ? And since 
I have known the way of truth, how sham- 
fully have I prevaricated with God ? 1 am 
confounded to consider how often I have 
despised the commandment, and rebelled 
against the light ; against the principles of 
education, and the checks of conscience, 
frequent warnings from God, and reproofs 
from others ; contrary to my profession and 
experience, contrary to the obligation of 
peculiar mereies, solemn promises, resolu- 
tions, and engagements, and a nearer, re- 
lation to God than many others; which sins 
have more dishonored my Lord, discredited 



otTime and Eternity. 151 

his holy gospel, gratified the devil, scandal- 
ized the world, and strengthened the hands 
of the ungodly, than the sins of others. And 
alas ! How much of my precious time is 
thus gone, which, if duly improved, would 
novo afford me comfort to review ? 

How much guilt have I contracted every 
year, particularly in this last? I now begin 
another, which will soon be gone, as that 
which was concluded yesterday. And shall 
I only advance in age r to increase the num- 
ber of my sins, and heighten my account a- 
gainst the day of reckoning ? In temporal 
and civil affairs, Day unto day uttereth 
knowledge, and night unto night teacheth wis- 
dom. We are taught by experience many 
useful lessons, which we should not else 
have learn'd ; to reform many errors and 
mistakes, to correct many rash and foolish 
actions, and speeches, &c. And shall I net 
learn wisdom by the experience of another 
year, in what concerns my greatest, mjr 
eternal enterest ? Shall not* the reflection on 
my past sins, prevent my commission of the 
like ? Especially considering how my sins 
aie aggravated by every mercy I have receiv- 
ed ; by every affliction I have undergone ; 
eveiy awakening sermon I have heard ; 
every motion of God's spirit, and every 
check of my own conscience that I have re- 
sisted ; every offer of \mgrace ; every warn- 
ing of his providence- ; every invitation and 
call of bis word, every purpose to repent, and 
every resolution I have made to forsake sin ; 
the greater knowledge I have had of my dan- 



132 Serious Reflections 

ger, the longer time I have deliberated about 
it ; the oft£ner I have confessed my sin, and 
been sorry for it ; every reproof I have had 
from others, and every promise I have made 
myself, doth aggravate, & increase my g 1 

How many years hath God vouchsafed 
me to work out my salvation ? But how lit- 
tle have I done towards it ? Had 1 died this 
last year, how unprepar'd must I have made 
my appearance before his trebunai ? What 
opportunities of doing, and receiving good 
have I let slip ?, Have I not made it more 
my business to seem religious, than really to 
be so ? How much of the patience of God 
have I abus'd ? Refusing his calls to repent- 
ance, resisting the strivings of his spirit, 
smothering my convictions, and turning the 
grace of God into wantonness ? Instead of 
returning gratitude for all his love, I have 
repeated my transgressions after forgivness ; 
and gone in a circle of repenting and sin- 
ning, even to this day. Lord, I am asham'd, 
and lay myself in the dust before thee. To 
me belongs nothing but shame and eon- 
fusion of face. If God should condemn and 
punish me as a rebel and a traytorand give 
me the portion of hypocrites, I cannot but 
own b\s justice ; even in hell I must do it # 
with my flaming tongue and breath. 

O spare me for thy mercy's sake ! Enter 
mt into judgment with thy servant, Jar in 
thy sight shall ntfiesh living be justified; if 
thou lay judgment to the line, and equity to 
the plummet. Give me repentance uni9 life, 
never i0 be repented of never to be retracted 



on Yi u b and E r erni t y . 1 5^ 

ni. Bring me to the blood of Jesus, which 
clcanscth from ail sin. Behold the sighing 
of a contrite spirit : For / acknowledge my 
transgressions unto thee, against whom I 
have sinned: Lord, fargivenhr iniquity of 
my sin. I am unworthy to lift up my hands 
and eyes towards heaven, unworthy to *be 
called thy son, or thy servant : I am vile 
in mine own eyes, because I have made 
myself vile in thine. For this I am troubled, 
and mourn, and my soul is grieved within 
me. 

O thou heavenly physician of souls ! frotn 
thy pity alone I expect my cure. I am mis- 
erable and undone without thy compassion ; 
and expect no relief but from the treasure of 
thy grace. I must perish and sink under the 
burden of sin, if thy merciful hand do not 
save me, and lift me up. I am entangled and 
ensnar'd by the devil and my lusts,, and 
without thy succour can never hope to get 
free. Lord, forgive my sins, and lical my 
sou! : deliver and save me for thy mercies sake. 

May I not yet hope in thy mercy ? Thou 
hast mercifully born with me hitherto ; thou 
callest me to repent ; thou commandest me 
to return, and promises! to forgive those sins 
which are confessed and forsaken : O do- not- 
cast me out of thy sight and presence, now 
I desire, from the bottom of my heart, to 
return to thee ! / abher myself in dust and 
ashes, for my past iniquities. But alas! 
such is the hardness of my impenitent heart, 
that I am even asham'd of my humblest r 
pentauce : How much more may God des- 



154 Serious Reflections 

pise and reject it ! But hast thou not given 
thy blessed Son to die for sinners ? and ex* 
alted him to this very end, to be a prince 
and a saviour, to give repentance and remis- 
sion of sins ? And by the word of thy grace, 
thou beseechest ail ( even the greatest sin- 
ners ) to accept of mercy ; and art mwfe wil- 
ling to pardon, than we ©an be to repent* 
>Tis thy delight and glory, agreeable to thy 
nature, aad declared name, as a God, gra- 
cious and merciful* slow to anger, and of great 
kindness, forgiving iniquity, transgression, 
and sin. O pardon mine iniquity, for it is 
great; and receive an humble penitent, who 
implores thy grace, according to the tenor 
of thy new covenant, flying to the arms of 
thy mercy, through the merits of Jesus 
Christ, who is able to save t$ the uttermost \ 
all that come unto God by him. 

Lord, hear ray prayer, and let not the 
mixture of my 'weaknesses and unworthi- 
ness turn it into sin : but graciously vouch- 
safe to look upon a returning pndigal ; and 
cause me to hear the voice of joy and glad- 
hess, that my sorrowful heart may be com- 
forted, and my life directed * to thy praise. 
Lead me into the path of life, that I may no 
longer err from the way of thy command- 
ments : teach me to do thy will, O God, 
and write thy law upon my heart, that I 
m iv never more return to folly. I am con- 
vinced of the evil of sin, of thy right to go- 
vern me, of the equity and justice of thy 
law, of the sweetness & rewards of keeping 
thy precepts, O sanctify my heart, and make 






Time ar 



:ound in thy star : I may hate 

If thei or wicked- 

rich thre pta- 

and die deccitfuiness oi ave 

n into, that hath Hrasl 
robb rf your peace, 

God to write buttr t gainst you ; be 

sure to h in 

coni 

■; whether it iras 
manifestation of God's k ome 

under or 
from G 

pre- 

and 

serious clo— 
company, ventui 

vHgth, 'c 

Ujt, by some 



1 56 Serious Re r l e c t i o x s 

than himself, and so your hitter end be worse 
than your beginning. For if the sin be not 
truly hated, but only covered over with 
pcnitental ashes, it will quickfy flame out 
again, when it meets with combustible 
matter, and a strong blast of temptation. 

But if you are grieved to the very heart, 
and abhor the sin, and resolve to quit it. you 
Jieed not doubt of God's readiness to re- 
ceive you to mercy. His spirit is yet striv- 
ing with you, if you are willing to repent 
and return to God. He sought you, and 
called you to return, when you were wan- 
dering as a logt sheep in the broad way : and 
can you think he will not be found of you, 
if you seek him with your whole heart ? 
Therefore renew your repentance, and beg 
more earnestly a spirit of humility, holy fear 
and watchfulness : and every morning im- 
plore divine succors against that sin, and all 
temptations to it, {iv/iich as much as possible 
you must avoid.; Constant and fervent prcpf- 
^rafter repentance, must be your refuge, 
and your remedy. If you let fall your hands, 
this Ameleck will prevail again. As soon and 
as far as you fail in the constancy and fer- 
vency of that duty, your sin will get strength 
and successfully attempt you another time. 
But by this practice, God may turn evil to 
work for good, make you gain by your loss, 
stand the faster by your fails, and become 
stronger by the discovery of your weakness, 
and so be better established for the future. 

But take heed that you pervert not the 
grace of God, and encourage yourself to sin 



en Time and Eternity. 157 

again, by the supposition, that if you should 
fall, 'tis but to repent, and r Dur reso- 

lutions, and 2^1 will be well. This is a subtle 
artifice of satan, but such, methinks, as 
should take with none, who have ever known 
by experience , what it is to repent. V 
have felt the burden of sin to be heavier 
than a * Millstone ; than the weight of a 
mountain. Who have tasted, how evil arid 
bitter a thing it is to depart from God. Who 
have loathed and abhorr'd themselves with 
deep remorse, and sorrow, and anguish of 
spirit ; wishing with all their hearts, that 
they had not sinned ; and if it were in their 
power, would^give all the world to retrieve 
it; and would rather die, than commie that 
folly; rpain, they then repented of. Let those 
who have not their own experience to con- 
firm this, read over ( and consider the ca*e 
of David, when he wrote) the penitential 
psalms. How many, like him, have roared, 
and cried out, under the sense of sin. of 
stings aid furies in their conscience, of the 
poison'd arrows in their souls, and his ter- 
' rors surrounding chern wherever they went ; 
from the sense oi his sins malignity, the ap- 
prehensions of God's anger; and the conse- 
quent fears of his wrath ? Serious repentance 
after great transgressions, is r thing 

than most imagine it. Whenthei tvat- 

ed sins shall beset them behind a 
be placed in order before their eyes, and set 
in array against them. 'Tis always a wcrk 
cf difficulty, as well as importance, to croci- 
* Lukt jjiii. 30. ur.d xvli. a. 

o 



158 Serious Reflections 

(y corrupt affections, to tear a beloved; lust 
from the heart, with self- indignation to ab- 
hor and cast away what before you lov'd 
and delighted fn. How did Ddvsid y s ski stare 
him in the face? // is continually with me, 
it is ever before me, said he. h haunted him 
like a spectre, or like £els/iazzar J s hand- 
writing on the wall, it still appeared before 
him in some horrid shape. 

However sin may smile in its first address, 
and bespeak us in flattering language, and 
promise pleasure, arid profit, and great ad- 
vantages, and satisfaction ; these are but fair 
appearances, this is but the cutsidc of the 
cup, and the colour of the -liquor ; it will 
prove gall and wormwood, and a mixture 
of deadly poison, if ever God set it home up- 
on the conscience, and awaken us to a true 
sense of it. And the continuance of .daily 
repentance for sin, which all christians are 
called to, is no such easy, matter neither. 
Constant self-abasement, and humiliation be- 
fore God, from a sense of his majesty and 
holiness, and of our many sins and pollution 
thereby : the imperfection of our best duties 
continually to be bewailed ; inordinate af- 
fections to be still mortified ; always resist- 
ing and opposing sin, in its root and branch- 
es ; conflicting against the whole interest of 
the fiesh, the world and the devil ; seeking 
after more holiness, to be derived unto -us 
by the grace of Christ, to be wrought in us 
by his spirit, and maintained by his power ; 
and making daily applications to the foun- 
tain of ail grace, for spiritual strength, to 



otTxme and Eternity. 159 

eontinue our warfare against sin, in all in- 
stances of outward duty, and ! actings 
of grace, even as long as we live ; all this is 
ided in it. Due apprehensions concern- 
ing repent(Uicc % ( as so comprehensive and 
difficult a duty, ) would teach us to beware 
of sin. 

Sect. XXVII. 

*£he necessity of "christian resolutions upright* 

rseverittg obedience ; Atwfull and ex::n- 

si ve it ought to be, and yet humble ; by 

hat means w may be assisted to perionn 

tt which we resolve. 

HAVING acknowledged my trans- 
gressions unto God, and beeped for* 
giveness,and experimentally learned the evil 
of sin, by the bitterness of repentance, / re- 
solve for the future, to watch against it mere 
narrowly, and against every thing that leacis 
to it ; endeavoring to please and honor my 
God and Saviour, by an upright, obedient 
heart and life. And for the remission of 
my former contracted guilt, I trust to Je- 
sus Christ, according to the revelation made 
in the gospel, of what he is, hath done, and 
suffered, and continues to do in heaven, for 
the salvation of repenting sinners, who de- 
sire to come unto God by him. 

But how often, my Sou// have I mock- 
ed God, and deceived myself, with formal 
and faint purposes of amendment ? My 



160 Serious Reflection s 

good resolutions have been all of them as the 
morning cloud, or the early dew, w hick quickly 
passed away. One fresh assault of temptation 
hath swept away all my good purposes as 
a spider's wed. I have falsified so many, 
and broke my word so often, that I dare not 
trust to any thing I now resolve, or rely 
on any promises I should farther make. 
Succor me therefore, Lord, by thy pow. 
erful grace, that what was defective in my 
former fruitless resolutions, may be now 
rectified. Let me be more humble in the 
s»Mise of my weakness, more dependent on 
thy grace, and qpore heartily seek it from 
time to time. Strengthen me with strength 
in r>iy soul, with might and power in my m- 
ward man, that I may so resolve and purpose 
as ur perform ; lhat I may not be one day 
hot, nrid the next cold ; zealous in the be- 
ginning, but faint and lukewarm in the prog* 
rcss , fervent and serious only in res&lving, 
but weak and impotent in the execution. 

Having changed my master, my end, and 
my hopes, by returning unto God, from 
whom I had gone astray. I firmly resolve, 
through the assisance of his grace, to change 
my course of life ; that old things being 
done away, all things may become new ; 
that *bein% made Jree from sin, by pardon- 
ing merey, and become the servant of Christ, 
I may have my fruit unto holiness, that my 
end may be eternal life. In the interim, 
whether I Ihe or die, let it be unto the Lord $ 
resolving both in life and death to be abso- 
lutely his. And to that purpose, my soldi 
* Rom. vi. 22. 



•h Time flw/ETXRNiTY. i§! 

let me seek for continual supplies of grace 
from Christ my head, to enable me to yield 
ready obedience in the most difficult, haz- 
ardous, painful and humbling duties. In vain 
do I resolve it, without the assistance of his 
mighty power, to strengthen my heart and 
hund», whenever I am called to such a trial 
of my sincerity. Without it 1 shall never 
recover my liberty, or break asunder thoiC 
bands and cords wherewith I have former- 
ly been held captive, as the servant of sift 
and Satan. Such is the weakness and trea- 
chery of my own heart, the influence of ill 
examples, and thr subtilty and cunning of 
the tempter, that otherwise I shall .quickly 
change my mind, and return to folly, as the 
dig to hisvemit. The spirit is so weak, and 
the flesh so frail ; the snares of the world so 
many, the power of remaining corruption 
so strong ? and of myself I ana se unsettled 
and wavering, fickle and unsteady, and 
prone to backsliding, that all my strongest 
purposes will not be sufficient, without dai- 
ly strength from above. My senses are so 
deceitful : my passions so ungovernable : 
the rule and law 1 am to walk by, so it let, 
and spiritual,and extensive ; criminal omis- 
sions may be so frequent, and 10 easily ov- 
erlooked ; so many several and difficult du- 
ties are to be performed ; and by every 
change of my condition, or of God's provi- 
dence, so many hew dangers and new du- 
ties may arise, that I fear the issue of my 
firmest resolutions. So strict a watch must 
always be kept ; such humility and caution 
o 



164 Serious Reflections 

is every where to be practised ; such speef- 
dy repentance required after every fall ; with 
thankfulness and contentment in everv state, 
under all calamities, (be they never so many, 
or never so pinching;) and perseverance 
herein absolutely necessary, though never 
so many stratagems be used to discourage 
me from proceeding, or to entice me to go 
back, or tin n aside to some other path ; in- 
somuch that if God had not promised mc 
his continued presence, and that his gract 
shall be sufficient for me, h that I shall not be 
tempted abnc what I am able to bear ; I 
should utterly despair of making g—i what 
I now resolve. 

But besides these promises to encourage 
my resolved obedience, he hath left upon 
record in his word, many glorious examples 
of his assisting and rewarding the courage 
and resolution of his servants to continue 
faithful ; as in the case of J$seph> Daniel 
and his three friends, &c. If Christ stand 
by, and strengthen me, I know I shall be 
able to do all things ; I shall not then be flat- 
lercd,nr affrighted out cf the way of my du- 
ty ; no wind that can blow, shall then turn 
me to another point ; nothing shall then be 
able to prevail for my consent to a wilful 6c 
deliberate forsaking of God ; no argument, 
no temptation, though privacy, opportunity, 
impunity from men, with rewards of world- 
ly gain and honor, should all concur to en- 
force a temptation. But, by that heavenly 
assistance, I shall be preserved humble,tem- 
jperate, chaste, patient, thankful, self-deny- 



on Timx tffl^/ Eternii y. 163 

irig, crucified to the w< rid, and hohlfast my 

integrity tilt I die ; still holiness 

in the fear of God, growing in h in the 

knoivLuge of my Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, waxing stronger from day to day, 
be seldomer surprized, offend less, and re- 
pent more quickly, and watch more nar- 
rowly afterwards, till at last I receive the 
crown. 

Especially, let noe watch against my con- 
stitutional sins, such as I am most inclined 
to, and where a temptation doth most easi- 
ly enter ; where the devil can take the fast- 
est hold, and be least suspected ; where he 
hdth formerly sprung a mine, and made a 
breach. I have known some humble watch- 
ful christians, after being recovered from 
their back-slidings, who abhorred every 
temptation to that sin, by which they had 
been defiled and wounded : they can hardly 
put up a prayer, but they mention it ; hard- 
ly have their hearts affected in any ordin* 
ance, but they are inwardly ashamed of it ; 
hardly hear of any one guilty of the like,but 
they are ready fco burst out into tears. 

Fix therefore, I beseech thee, most gra- 
cious God ! my unfeigned resolutions of 
cleaving to thee, with full purpose of heart 
artd shew thy strength in- my weakess, by 
enabling me to do what I now resolve. To 
that end, teach me to watch over my hearty 
to keep it with ail diligence, to be more 
conversant with my own thoughts, examine 
the mol.ons that arise in my heart, whence 
they come, and whither they go, and what 



164 Serious Reflections 

they tend to, that I may suppress the be- 
ginnings q{ s\\\. The unsearchable deceitful- 
ncss of the heart, the rovings, straglings, and 
wandrings of the thoughts y the ungoverna- 
ble motions and stirrings o f t he passions : and 
affections, with the corrupt inclinations that 
are ready to comply with temptation, make 
such a constant watchfulness necessary. Let 
me live no longer as a stranger to myself, 
but by self-reftection dwell more at home, 
reckoning my principal work to be within- 
doors, to keep my own vineyard. Teach 
me to watch over my senses % to guard the 
door of my lips, to govern my passions ; 
to be wary in the choice of my company, 
and in the right use of it ; to be circum- 
spect in every step of my daily walk, to call 
myself frequently to a reckoning, to cast up 
my accounts at the foot of every page, (by 
every day's review of my actions) to live al- 
ways »« in God's presence, and be awed 
every where by the thought of his holy eye, 
to shun the occasions and appearances of 
evil, &c. 

By the neglect of this, spiritual distem- 
pers will insensibly creep upon us. There 
is such a venom and malignity in sin, to 
wound and weaken the soul, to put us off 
the hinges, to disorder and unfit us for any 
spiritual service, to make our hearts vain, 
frothy, lazy and listless, that we shall easily 
let slip our opportunities, lose our seasons, 
and languish and pine away notwithstand- 
ing all the means of thriving and growth. 
And he^ce it is that so many professors 



#/zTime and Eternity. 165 

mourn and complain, lick the dust, and lie 
among the clods, are dead under the most 
awakening ministry, and barren under the 
most fruitful means. Hence it is they do 
little good, as well as taste little comfort ; 
some duties are neglected, and others per- 
formed slightly ; and in none of them do 
they meet with that sweetness and satisfac- 
tion, that refreshment and advantage, fruit 
and benefit as formerly. And all from the 
neglect of watchfulness, making bold with 
temptation, & not standing upon their guard 
in the use of the christian armor. 

And because no place, no condition, no 
employment is exempted from temptations , 
let me fortify myself every morning against 
all^assaults for that day, by serious prayer,a» 
holy David was wont to do : My iwV<?,(saith 
he) shah thou hear in the morning, Lord; 
in the morning will I direct my prayer unto 
thee, and will lookup. Psal. v. 3, 4. Let the 
law of God be my daily and delightful study; 
that I may be able presently to bring my 
words and actions to the touchstone ; 
and know how to manage the sword of the 
spirit on all occasions, against the fiery darts 
of the devil; that knowing the rule, I may not 
be doubtful, or at a loss ; whenever I anm 
tempted, I may not make a stand to parley, 
but immediately summon all my forces to 
resist, and reject the snare ; being assured 
from God, that the continuance of this war-, 
fare shall end in a most glorious victory. He 
will shortly tread down satan under my feet. 
Thanks be n God, ihro J Jesus Chiist>my 
Lord. 



16$ Serious Reflect ioirs 

Sect. XXVIIL 

The import fc? obligation of our baptismal cov- 
enant. The rene ival of it by a solemn dedica- 
tion of ourselves to God the Father, Son 
€^Holy Spirit, exemplified &? recommcnekd. 

ALL this, G my sou! ! which I have now 
resolved on, is no more than what I 
am obliged to by my vow in baptism ; to 
renounce the devil and his works, the flesh 
and the lusts thereof, the world, and con- 
formity to it, that 1 may love and serve the 
Lord : agreeable to the undoubted right 
which God hath in me by creation, redemp- 
tion, and his innumerable other benefits* 
But the outward washing of baptism, and a 
visible profession of obedience, will not savt 
me, without the answer of a good conscience 
towards God, I Pet. chap, ill. verse 21. 
M-ay I not, by the consideration of my bap- 
tismal covenant, suppose God speaking to 
my conscience to this effect ? " Will you 
" take me for your whole portion and felie- 
11 ity ? And my law for the constant rule of 
M your obedience ? And fight against the 
§l world, the flesh, and the devil, to your life's 
14 end? Will you believe in Jesus Christ, 
* f and receive him as a prince and saviour ? 
M And adhere to the faith and obedience of 
M the gospel, ho\r hazardous and difficult 
14 soever the profession and practice of it may 
11 be ? Will you receive the blessed spirit as 



oti 



Time WEiSENify, 167 



" your teacher, sanctificr, and com forte** ? 
" and cherish all his motions, to * .a]? 1 h, 
" purify, confirm, comfort, and assist ; uu ?" 
'Til my hearty consent to these terms, and 
resolved compliance with them, which b; p- 
tism obligeth to ; and this is the answer of a 
good conscience towards God. 

I have often renewed this covenant on 
several occasions ; but did I ever duly con- 
sider the tenor and obligations of it ? How 
have I lyed unto the God of truth ? Delt 
deceitfully with him ? And been false and 
fickle, treacherous and unfaithful to what I 
promised ? O let me now again repeat it, 
aad give up myself once more to be the 
Lord's^ more unfeignedly, more firmly than 
erer I have hitherto done ! that the bonds of 
God upon me may be strengthened, and my 
soul more thoroughly engaged to be the 
Lord's. O help me to do it with the great- 
est seriousness, as the most important aftair 
of my whole life ! By thine cud and grace 
alone i shall I be sincere and cordial in this 
surrender and dedication of my self. O 
breathe upon my soul, most holy spirit, 
( the power ef the highest J that there may 
be no hypocrisy or reservation, in this so 
weighty and solemn transaction between 
God and me ! 

O most blessed and glorious TRINITY! 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thy favour is 
my life, and thy loving kindness is better 
than life : thy will should have been my rule, 
thy word my law, thy glory my end, to 
please thee my principle business, and to 



168 Serious Rzilzctioxs 

enjoy thy love and presence my ultimate fe- 
licity. But I am one of thy revolted creatures, 
who have lost thine image, and rebelPd st- 
gainst thy law, slighted thy authority, and 
rejected thy grace, and deserve to be cast 
out of thy sight and banish'd from thy pres- 
ence forever. Nevertheless, most merciful 
God and Father, upon thy gracious invita- 
tion and call, I now return to thee my right- 
ful Lord ; acknowledging thee, as my al- 
mighty, wise, and bountiful Creator, my 
absolute owper, my righteous governor, my 
end, my happiness, and chief good. I now 
accept thine ofier'd mercy ; I kgw submit to 
the sept re of thy grace ; and give up myself 
to thee, as my King, and my God ; to rule 
and sanctify me now, and be my ever- 
lasting portion. I desire to be no longer my 
own, but thine, to .whom of right I beloifg, 
and ought to be devoted. I yield myself to 
thee, my Lord ! Accept and possess that 
which is thine own. I lay myself at thy foot, 
at all times, and in all conditions to be at 
thy disposal, and in every thing to acquiesce 
in thy good pleasure. Deliberately resolving, 
with unfeigned and free consent of my will, 
to walk before thee in holiness and righteous- 
ness all the days of my life. Hereby I con- 
secrate and devote myself to be thy perpetu- 
al, avowed servant ; Lord, 1 am thy servant, 
I am thy servant, the son of thine handmaid. 
Though other lords have had dominion over 
me, I will now make mention of thy name, 
and of thy righteousnes only, by Jesus 
Christ. 



on Time ^/Eternity. 169 

blessed Jesus, my all-sufficient Saviour! 
thy dying love, infinite condescension, and 
matchless grace, hath at last overcome me^ 
and constrained me to resolve to be wholly 
thine, who hast redeemed and bought mc 
with thy most precious blood. I now ac- 
knowledge and own thee, as my Lord, and 
my Jesus, my prophet, priest, and king.; my 
sacrifice, surety, and ransom, to satisfy for 
my sins, and reconcile me unto God ; to in- 
struct me in his will, and teach me the mvs- 
teries of his kingdom, and the way to the 
Father. How often hast thou opened thine 
arms, and called me, yea beseeched me to 
come unto thee, and accept of life ? But I 
refused to come. I adore thy merciful con- 
descension, that yet thou wilt receive mc 
on such easy terms* 

O thou Lord of life and .glory, now ac- 
cept of an unworthy helpless sinner, who 
flies to thee as his only refuge and hope ! 
%vho is convinced that none but Christ, none 
but Christ can make "his peace with God, 
and save from wrath to come. I acknowl- 
edge thy title to me, and my obedience, and 
to all I have, by dying for me. I desire to 
take thy yoke upon me, for it is easy ; and 
thy burthen, which is light. I desire to be 
entirely, and forever thine, in an everlasting 
covenant never -to bt broken : to take up the 
cross and follow thee, whithersoever thou 
shalt lead me ; through the srait gate, and 
the narrow 'way. I will reserve no lust, re- 
fuse no labour, grudge at no sufferings, stick 
*J no difficult*, so I may please and honour 



170 Serious Rejlections 

thee, and continue in thy love, O shed a- 
broad more of thy love hi my heart, to make 
all things easy for his sake, who hath loted 
me, and washed trie from my sins in his own 
blood. 

God ' the Holy Ghost! I acknowledge thee, 
&s my great teacher and sanctificr, and give 
tip myself to thee, as the author of all say- 
ing knowledge and holiness : by thee I have 
been convinced of my sin against the law of 
God, and the gospel of Christ, and of my 
necessity of his merit, satisfaction, and 
righteousness, to justify my guilty soul, by 
procuring the forgiveness of sin, and my 
acceptance with God ; and of the freeriess 
©f his love, the riches and all- sufficiency of 
his grace, towards all who come unto God 
by him. I adore thee, most blessed spirit ! 
as proceeding, and sent frotn the Father and 
the Son, to renew all the powers of my soul, 
and restore the divine image there ; to en- 
lighten my mind, to know and receive the 
truth, as it is in Jesus, and purify my heart ; 
and to sanotify all the members of my body, 
and make them instruments of righteousness 
unto holiness, which before were servants 
unto sin ; and gradually to deliver me from 
the power, the defilement, and abode of sin; 
as from the guilt and punishment by the 
blood of Jesus ; and as the witness of God 
to the truth of the holy scriptures : and as 
the greatest paraclete, to comfort and estab- 
lish the hearts of believers, scaling them up 
to the day of redetnptioftf and giving them 
the earnest of the heavenlv inheritance. 



en 



Time and Eternity. 171 



blessed- spirit, be thou my witness > that tho* 
1 have violated the law of God, and defaced, 
his image, and formerly undervalued the 
love of Christ, and the grace of the gospel, 
yet, by thine aid, I now accept what I have, 
so long neglected, and thankfully devote, 
myself henceforward to be the Lord's in a 
covenant relation. 

But fearing and distrusting myself, I give 
up myself entirely to the conduct of thy 
grace, depending upon it for my establish- 
ment and perseverance. O form my heart 
into an obediential frame ! that in every 
thing I may endeavor to answer the ends 
and ebligatiens of this devoted state. 

To this one God I have once again dedi- 
cated and resigned myself; to serve, and 
please, and. honor thee, in thought, word, 
and act, to the last moment of my life : i& 
the performance of all dutm, even those 
which I have been most averse from ; in the 
mortification of every lust, and the forsaking 
every sm,even chose which I was once most 
addicted to : resolving deliberately to allow 
myself in nothing, great or little, secret or 
open, which I shall know or believe to be 
contrary to thy holy will ; making it my bu- 
siness to be fruitful in good works, to the 
praise of my Redeemer ; waiting in the use 
of all his appointed means, for higher meas- 
ures of grace and holiness, to be more vie- 
toriou* over inward lusts, and outward tefnp- 
tations, st\\\ pressing towards the mark for the 
prize oj my high and holy calling, even eter- 
nal life, 



172 Serious Reflections 

I call heaven and earth, O Lord, to wit- 
fless this day that I owiv and avow this to 
be my mind, and the settled prevailing pur- 
pose of my soul. This I again ratify and con- 
firm, without and clauses or exceptions. So 
help me, my God. Glory be to God the 
Faiher,God the Son, & God the Holy Spirit. 

6QgQOQ^QQeQ 8 QQQQOgQQ9! 

Sect. XXIX. 
Practical and consolatory re flections on the 
precceding self-dedication^?* covenant with 
GocL 

I Have this day solemnly avouched the 
Lord to be my God, to walk in his ways ; 
thereby to fortify my resolutions, that I and 
my *IIvuse : (and all that 1 can persuade to 
be of my mind) will serve the Lord. I in. 
tend, desire, and hope never wilfully to vi- 
olate the faith which I have now plighted 
in the presence of God ; but to continue 
steJfast, immoveable, alivays abounding ir) 
the work of the Lord, See. 

Should I undertake any new employment, 
or enter into any new condition, or change 
the place of my abode, where I might see 
more of God's dishonor, and meet with more 
and stronger temptations to sin, and be call- 
ed to the performance of more difficult du- 
ties greater watchfulness, and self-denial &c. 
I Would hope thereby to engage the pres- 
ence of God with me, and his blessing oil 
allhiy affairs, (on which depends the success 
of all that I undertake ;) and would hope the 
better to preserve my integrity, not only 



on Tiue and ETBXtfiTr. 178 

this year, but in all the remaining portion 
oi my time, by the abiding sense of my 
covenant with God, thus seriously renewed* 
This is the method I have been often ad- 
vised to for peace of conscience^ under 
doubts and scruple* concerning my spiritu- 
al state ; to put the matter out of doubt, by 
again accepting the offered mercy and grace 
of the gospel ; and heartily consenting to the 
new covenant : giving up myself to God in 
Christ, to be ruled and saved by him. Bles- 
sed be God I have now done io. Lord, say 
Ainen to thy part of the covenant, that thou 
art and wilt be my God ; as I desire unfeign- 
edly to do to mine, that I will be thy servant. 
But because articles are sooner consented 
to, than made good, tho' I seriously intend 
never to disown tkis my solemn act anil 
deed, but firmly to adhere to it, as long as I 
live ; that hewing sworn, I will endeavor to 
perform it, that this shall be my everlasting 
choice, never to be recanted or altered ; yet 
considering the sad instances of my former 
weakness, & the vigilance & subtle malice of 
my great adversary, I again implore the suc- 
cor ui divine grace, to keep it forever in the 
purpose of my heart, that it may be as the 
laws of the Meiks and Persians, never to be 
reversed. I have given up my name to be 
thine ; put thy fear into my heart, that I 
may never depart from thee! Imprint thy 
laws upon my heart, that my obedience may 
be uniform and universal, unwavering and 
p.erperiial; suitable to so honorable and neac 
a relation to thee ! I anvcnilbl? 1 warttBMfe 



174 . Serious Reflections 

dom and strength to that purpose, but thou 
hast bid me ask it of thee, whogivest liberal- 
ly to all, without desert, and uphraidest not, 
with present uri worthiness, or former faults. 
O lead me not into temptation , but deliver me 
from evil. Stand by and strengthen me in 
the hour o£ trial, lest I forget my vows, and 
deny thee. O that my sou! may never draw 
back, lest thine have no pleasure in me, I 
can serve no better master ; O let mine ears 
be bored to the door of thine house, as the 
token and assurance of my being thy servant 
unto death. I know His my duty, I am sen- 
sible His my priviledge and honor ; I am 
convinced, that 'tis my interest and felicity ; 
my coul, my life* my present and everlasting 
welfare, & all depends upon it, that thou 
shouldest be my God forever ; O conduct 
me by thy holy spirit of grace, that I may 
walk, and act, as having heartily consented 
he should be so ; and direct my heart into 
thy love, and the faithful keeping oj thy com- 
mandments : but when so many professors 
make shipwreck of faith and a good con- 
science, and discredit the religion of my 
Lord, by their shameful falls, thou may'st 
make me to stand, and improve the warn- 
ing of their examples to walk humbly; and 
Tfrhite I stand, to take heed lest I J all. 

Having thus surrendered myself to God, 
what is there, my soul ! that is ever like 
to prevail with me to go back, and revolt 
from him ? Is the gratification, of a h/st.tho 
securing of an estate, compliance with a 
frit/id, the pleasing of a superior, living in 



0/jTime and Eternity. 17S 

ease, and honor, and outward prosperity for a 
little while, the saving my body from suf- 
fering, or my life from violence, or whatso- 
ever else be the motive of my unfaithfulness 
to God. and uposiacy from him ; is any, is 
#// of these any way considerable, compar- 
ed with the blessedness of having God to be 
my God ? For thereby 1 have the forgive- 
ness of all my sins ; and the assurance of 
his favor ; the certainty of present protec- 
tion, and provision ; all creatures leconcil- 
cd to me, and to be employed for iny good, 
as the friend of God ; ail things to work 
together for my advantage ; and by the ev- 
idence of my adoption, a well-grounded 
hope of eternal life. God, as my sun and 
shield, will give grace and glory, and with- 
hold no good thing. So unspeakably com- 
prehensive are the privileges of so near are* 
lation to God in Christ. happy are the 
people 'who are in such a case ! Blessed are 
the persons whose God is the Lord ! 

Do I resohe to abide by my choice, and 
trust in Christ for persevering grace ? And 
shall I not, ought I not to take comfort in it ? 
Shall 1 not give God the glory of his infn- 
ile goodness, by adhering to him, and rejoic- 
ing in him, notwithstanding all temptations 
to the contrary ? Casting all my care upon 
him, and quieting myself in the all-sufficien- 
cy of rnv heavenly Father ; having a God in 
covenant, who will supply all my wants and 
take care of me, as his own! Shall I not 
give him the glory of his truth and power, 
by trusting him in every condition ? By 



i7fi Serkus Reflections 

confidence in his promise, dependence on 
his word, faithfulness to his interest, and 
constancy in his service to the end ? Is it 
not a most encouraging thought, that God 
doth nevzr abandon any who do not first for- 
sake him ? And after such strict engage- 
ments, as I have laid upon myself, shall I 
ever strike the fatal stroke with mine own 
hand ? Shall I be off and on, say and unsay, 
promise and retract ? And after I have pro* 
ceeded thus fatr,shall 1 forsake the fountain of 
living waters, & turn again to broken cisterns? 
After I have examined myself, consider- 
ed my ways, confessed my sins, and upon 
serious deliberation am come to a rtsolve y 
and in pursuance of it, have devoted myself 
with such solemnity to be the Lord's ; shall 
I ever, after lh\% forsake him & my $vjn mer- 
cies y and lightly esteem the rock of my salva- 
tion ? Now I have learned, in some meas- 
ure what sin is, by the sorrows and anguish 
of an hearty repentance ; now I have discov- 
ered so much of the snares and devices of 
satan, whereby I. have formerly been be- 
trayed ; now I am sensible of the danger-, 
ous and powerful influence and infection of 
bad cempany ; the treachery of fleshly lusts ; 
the bewitching temptations of the world ; 
and have tasted a little, by my own expert 
ence, of the pleasantness of wisdom's paths, 
the peace and satisfaction of devotedness to 
God, by the present rewards of a ealm con- 
science, the communications of divine grace* 
apd the encouragement of an holy hope,&c» 
and am persuaded of the stability of his 



jn 



1 T 



:he certai 
who continue in well-doing : Shall I. after 
aUthi:, ever break with God Shall I 

:icel this engagement ; this 

my vow ? and falsify so many repeated 
promises and res ns ? 

Oh : may re^t upon me \ 

and his grace work in me, and 

to do ! thai this Ged may he my G*d forever % 
a f :d my guide unto death. Let me never re- 
assume this gift rrender of myself, or 
defraud God of 

I am, and him 1 will serve : liv holly 

to him ; using all I a; being wil- 

ling he si his own 9 

and ose of me, and oi 

! 15 to me. as thai 
good in his eyes. I am thine, O Lord, save 
me. Con me ray work, appoint me 

my (■ ler my con- 

:yed 
in the m< 
ions self- 

/ or a d\ 

ied; yet i 

By this m len I come 

. more years to niira- 

be* 

nihtr, Lor a. 
e thee in 
the ; ieaih and 



IjrS; . Stritut Reflections 

of another world, and the near prospect of 
eternity. I may be able to rejoice in hope, 
and say, Lord Je$us receive ?ny spirit. Thou 
art my Saviour, and I have waited for thy 
salvation. I have sought thee with my whole 
heart ; I have chosen thy favour, rather than 
worldly grandeur and prosperity ; I have 
prized thy love, and endeavoured to obey 
thee, ( as the best expression of my own ) 
though with many imperfections, which I 
bewail ; I have delighted more in thy service 
and presence, than in the pleasures of sin 
and vanity ; thy testimonies have been the 
joy of my heart ; 1 took no delight in the 
company of the ungodly, after I was devoted 
to thee ; O let me not have my portion with 
them in the other world ! fortify me now a- 
gainst the king of terrors, strengthen me in 
this my last conflict, enable me to triumph 
ever death, by the cross of Christ ( my vie- 
torious redeemer, J and carry me through 
the dark valley, at the divorce of soul and 
body* and grant aie an abundant entrance, 
into thine heavenly kingdom ; let me be 
numbered among thy chosen, and my body 
wait ia hope,tili the general resurrection, that 
I may then see thy glory, and dwell with 
thee for ever. 

I gave up myself to thee, and do not re- 
pent my choice ; aeknowledge me now for 
thine % and do not lose that which is thy own. 
Lord Jesus ! thou hast paid my ransom, to 
deliver me fromsatan, 5c- from eternal wrath ; 
Oh do not now reject me, and cast me off. 
la it, not thine oHice and covenant, to sav§ 



fttTlME £n*/ETE*XITY. 179 

those that trust in thee ? Oh remember thy 
\rovd unto thy servant, wherein thou hast 
caused me to hope, wh^n I ventured my 
salvation on thy promise, and trusted to thy 
gracious word for eternal life. Thy love hath 
already overcome the greatest impedimenta 
of my salvation. It is as easy now to receive 
me, as to love me. Thou hast prepared 
glory for thy redeemed ones ; and hast bid 
me believingly to follow thee, and wait for 
thy salvation. Thou hast begotten me to a 
lively hope, by the incorruptible seed of the 
word ; let me not now be deprived of the 
inheritance. Can that love that pitied me in 
my blood, and fetched me from the gates of 
hell, now suffer me to fall into it ? O crown 
thy grace, and perfect thy preparatory mer- 
cy, with everlasting mercy. 

By voluntary consent and choice, thou 
art my God; and thy presence in heaven, 
my ultimate felicity ; I have trusted to thy 
gracious promise, to prepare me for it, ar.d 
bring me to it ; fulfill thy word wito thy 
servant, njherin theu hast caused vie to hepe ; 
and mercifully receive my departing soul, 
that seeks thee, that loves thee, that breathes 
after thee, and desires nothing but to know 
thee batter, and love thee more, and be 
more entirely conformed to thine image, 
live always in thy blessed presence. 
Thou hast called me out of the world, plnc- 
.ine image upon me, enabled me to 

:e it my business, though with many 
mrperfectioM, to serre, and please, and hon- 

bce ; O receive me to the fulness of thy 



1 $0 Serious R e r l e c t 10 ft s 

love and grace, and present me faultless be- 
fore the presence of thy glory, with exceed- 
ing joy. Amen. Holy Father , be it unto 
me according to thy vsord ; through the mer- 
its and intercession of my all-sufficient saviour, 
Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witness^ 
in iv htm all thy promises are yea and amen. 

Sect. XXX. 
Thansgiving to God for his innumerable ben- 
efits and mercies, particularly in the year 
past : with some direction and advice 
concerning it. 

HOW precious and delightful are the 
thoughts of thy benefits ! Lord how 
great is the sum oj them ! Should I count 
them, they are more in number thai* the stars. 
Shall I not observe and consider them / 
Maintain a grateful sense of them, and pub- 
lickly acknowledge them bn all occasions ? 
that I may bless the Lord a\ all times, and 
his praise be continually in my mouth. More 
especially should I conclude and begin this 
year, with solemn praises to my great bene- 
factor and preserver. I ought to begin and 
close every day with it, thereby to make the 
out -goings of the morning and the evening to 
rejoice in God. Every year, everyday, every 
hour, every moment offers rae an occasion 
to praise hhri ; because lie is every minute 
gracious, and hath been so ever since he 
gave me my being. 

Almost one half of my timt hath been 



onTiuz and Etehkity. 131 

spent in sleep, when I remember not God, 
ncr myself; yet doth he, who never slum,. 
bcrs or sleeps, remember me in mercy* and 
watch over me for good. Yea, though in 
the other half, by day, I have forgottm him 
in a Morse sense, by casting 1 off his : fear, and 
not remembering that his holy eye is v-pon 
me, yet hath he not forgotten to be gracious. 
Therefore • I will praise the name of God 
with a song, end will magnify him with 
thanksgiving, and never forget his benefit. 
With which sacrifice he is better pleased, 
than with an ex #r bullock^ that hath horns 
and hoofs. ' 

He hath prolonged my life this larr v:.:r, 
when so many others of his more useful ser- 
vants have been removed by death; end 
given me farther time and space to repent, 
when multitudes have been surprized in 
their impenitence. V <.?s he who form- 

ed me in the- womb. a:. J brought me safely 
into tb? world-, by whose providence I have 
hitherto been supported: In him I lim % 
and mo-j£ % unci continually exist : To I his un- 
deserved goodness I ? •- beholden for all the 
good of any kmd, which I ever enjoyed : 
To his bounty I am indebted for all that I 
now have ; and must depend upon i:, for 
whatever I can here.; ct. 

Through infancy and childhood he wan 
pleased to preserve me ; favoring me with 
many advantages in my birth and educate 
proving for me a competent livelihood ; c 
posing the circumstances of my condition, 
relations, places of abode, 8cc. more ad van* 
Q •WO, Uix. SQft%4 



182 Serious Reflections 

tageously than he hath done for thousands ; 
affording me many* helps for the improve- 
ment of my mind, and the increase of knowl- 
edge ; and preventing my necessities, and 
even my desires, with numberless blessings, 
which I never so much as asked for. He 
hath caused several of my relations to yield 
me comfort, when they might have been sore 
afflictions. He hath raised up strangers to 
befriend me, and shew me kindness. How 
many favors have I received from God, by 
the instrumentality of other men ; to \\ horn 
God gave the will, and the power, the oppor- 
tunity and the inclination ? 

How often hath he delivsred my soul /rem 
death, mine eyes from tears, and 'my feet from 
falling, by seasonable preservation*? so that 
I do yet walk before him in the land of the 
living. He hath rescued me from the brink 
of many a precipice, which, through ignor- 
ance or inadvertency, I did not apprehend 
or fear. When I knew not which way to 
turn, he hath made my path plain. Under 
sinking disappointments he hath command- 
ed succor ; and been a present help in the 
time of trouble. In great perplexities, his eye 
hath been my guide, and his arm h?.th bro't 
salvation : it may be by the ministry of his 
holy angels, obeying his order, and giving 
unusual intimations oi very great, and oth- 
erwise unsuspected dangers ; or sending 
relief and deliverance, by such small, unlike- 
]y and unexpected means, as carried the 
name of Cod visibly engraven on them. In- 
numerable calamities he saves mc from, 



on Time and Eternity. 133 

which others groan under ; and as many 
blessings am I favored with, whereof they 
arc destitute. He spreads my table, and 
fills my cup, and gives me all things richly 
to enjoy, when many excellent persons, of 
•whom the world is not worthy, are fed with 
the bread of affliction, and the water ef afflic- 
tion. Others have only necessaries, qt but 
few conveniences, in comparison with the 
plentiful provisions God hath made for my 
ehearful obedience to him. And shall 1 not 
praise him for * the precious things of heav- 
en, the blessings of the earth, the dew and 
tht depth ? and more especially for the 
goodness of him v)ho dwelt in the bush, to 
sanctify and sweeten all ? whereby common 
mercies become the pledge and fore-runner 
of better things : as the fruit of his special 
kindness, the witness of his truth, and the 
seed of peace, and joy, and righteousness, 
and praise ; by reason of his blessing on 
ail that I possess, which otherwise would 
prove a snare, and a temptation, and be in- 
termixed with a curse. 

And besides the ordinary and continued 
bounty of every day, in the midst of how- 
many difficulties and dangers have I felt the 
dear obligations of his preserving mercy ? 
abroad and at home ; in foreign countries, 
::s well as my own ; in the midst of ene- 
mies, and among friends ; in all places, and 
at all times. 

He hath prolonged my health, or made my 
bed in sickness. He hath often granted the 
desires of my heart, whenever it was for his 
*Deut. xxxiii. 13, 14. 



184 Serious IXltlzctioxz 

glory ; and contradicted my ivishef, ant? 
disappointed my endeavors, in other instanc- 
es, when it was more to my advantage. From 
bow many mischiefs hath he saved me. by 
such things as I deprecated, and would have 
hindered ? How many evils hath he turned 
for good ? He hath heard my cry in the day 
cf adversity, and set my feet in a large place. 
He hath chastened me for my profit : hit rod 
and his staff ha^e comforted me : he hath 
spoken comfortably to me in the wilderness, 
Jffiict ion hath been useful & necessary phys- 
ic ; made an instrument of virtue, and so a 
token of his love. Therefore *i will sing of 
the mercy of the Loud forever, and with th$ 
^oice of thanksgiving i^ill I make known his 
fait/ifulhess. 

He hath all along conducted me by his 
wisdom, guided me by his providence, and 
the angel of his presence hath directed my 
path, and ordered all my goings. He hath 
been a cloud to me by day, and a pillar of/fn? 
by night : he hath helped me in my straits, 
and supplied my wants, and comforted me in 
all my sadnesses: his powerful and gracious 
presence hath been my constant guard ; & his 
sovereign never-failing goodness hath com- 
passed me about with mercy on every side. 
For \ihich O most merciful Fatherly soul& 
ell that is within me, desires to speak thy praise. 

The advantageous circumstances of many 
divine favors do raise their value, & deserve 
to be particularly observed & acknowledged. 
How suitably, how seasonably, how Wisely 
hath he conferred his benefits ? With wh«t 
♦Pfal. kviii. i. 



mTimc and Eternity. 185 

tenderness and kindness ? With what free- 
dom and readiness ? Of his own bounty 8c 
good will, without any necessity, or obliga- 
tion on his part ; without any desert, and 
sometimes without so much as t prayer on 
mine. And what is more, notwithstanding 
my ingratitude zndforgetfulness of him,and 
great provocations, heightened by the abuse 
of so much mercy ; demanding nothing,after 
all, in requital of so much kindness, but my 
acceptance of his love and grateful sense of 
his goodness, and the sweetest and most rea- 
sonable expressions of it, by thankful obedi- 
ence. 

More especially would I bless the Lord, 
for enlightening my raiad in the great mys- 
teries of rehgim ; disposing in wonderful 
wisdom the several means and methods, 
whereby he brought me to the knowledge of 
the truth, by parents, ministers, friends, ac- 
quaintance, books, afflictions, &c. beginning 
with me in childhood, awakening and culti- 
vating the inbred notions of God, and nat- 
ural religion, of good and evil, rewards and 
punishments ; by the careful instructions of 
parents, or others concerned in my educa- 
tion ; giving me the advantage of good ex- 
amples, counsels and encouragements, to 
know and do well ; with more assistance, 
and less hindrances and diversions, than to 
many others. Particularly, for the excellent 
privilege, and inestimable blessing of his 
holy word and sacraments ; the liberty of 
the christian religion in the purity of it, in 
the most of those places, where God has 



186 Serious Reflections 

been pleased to cast my lot. Causing me to 
lay icnvn in green pastures, and leading me 
beside the still waters : instructing me in the 
revelation of his v\ ill and grace by Jesus 
Christ : acquainting me with the sublime 
principles and articles, precepts and rules, 
promises and hopes of the gospel, in order 
to eternal life. 

I bless thee, Lord, and shall forever da 
so, that with any or all these advantages and 
helps, thy holy spirit hath taught me to know 
the truth as it is in Jesus, heartily to believe 
and obey it. That by thy grace I have been 
convinced of sin, and brought to repentance; 
shewing ine the necessity of a Saviour to 
make my peace with thee, the all- sufficiency 
of his grace, the fulness of his, merit, the free- 
ness of his love, and his readiness to receive 
me to mercy, inviting and calling me to it, 
and enabling me to accept his gracious invi- 
tation, and obey his compassionate call ; 
making me willing, by a powerful and vic- 
torious grace, drawing me with cords of love, 
and so effectually persuading me to consent 
to thy covenant, and comply with thy mes- 
sage, on the gracious terms of the gospel. 
B essed be the God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, who through liis abundant mer- 
cy, hath begotten me again to a lively hope ; 
haying humbled my proud heart, and con- 
quered the perverseness of my stubborn will, 
and brought my soul to an entire subjection 
to himself ; who took pity on me, when he 
saw me in my blood, spread his skirt over 
me, cast a mantle upon my nakedness, wash- 



tn Tiu r . arid E,T£*N r i7Y. 1C7 

ed me from my sins, and put his own come- 
liness upon me by sanctiiication ; who op- 
ened my I was leaping b 
in:o the pit of df >n ; who healed my 
soul, when I was sick unto death; whores- 
cued and recovered me from the slavery of 
the hen I was led captive by him at 
his will. Shall not a ransomed, redeemed 
slave be thankful to his deliverer ? Shall 
not a miserable undone sinner, who is re- 
ceived to mercy, be thankful for a pardon ? 
Awake, my scull and utter a song of 
^e to him, *who for give 'th all ihint ini- 
quities* and healeth all thy diseases : vthe re- 
deemed tky life (ihy soul) from destruction y 
and crcrxneth thee^ith loving kindness, and 
Under m 

Hath he made thee partaker of his own 
renewed image and likeness ? given thee 
his Son ? hh grace ? h ; s spirit ? and taken 
such a wretched creature into so near a re- 
lation to himse'f ; and promised to be thy 
God and gn; and thine inher- 

itance, thy friend and thy physician, thy sun 
and thy shield, and thine exceeding grer.t 
reward ? And shall not my soul speak aloud 
his praise ? Hath he been \merciful tarry 
unrighteousness > and blotted ns ? 

Hath he gathered me vohh his arm. and ear- 
ned me in his boson? Hath he been my 
Saviour and Redeemer, adopted me into 
family, and premised to muke me b!e 
in his g: angels ? The 

curse being removed, and the h. :mg 

against me d, the price p:*id, the 

*Pul. ciii. p \lfy. xliii. 14- 



1 38 Serious Reflections 

breach made up, the mouth of justice stop- 
ped, and the condemning sentence of the 
law exchanged for a gracious pardon, thro' 
the sacrifice of my. blessed Lord Jesus ? And 
shall I not praise his incomprehensible love 
and grace ? 

I likewise thank thee,- most holy Father, 
for saving me from guilt and ruin, when 
assaulted by powerful and dangerous temp- 
tations ; that by preventing mercy, or restrain* 
ing grace ^ thou hast kept me from many scan- 
dalous and presumptuous crimes. I thank 
thee for making the sins of others a warning 
and a caution to me } an argument to humil- 
ity, and a motive to watchfulness ; for pre- 
serving my judgment from many errors and 
delusions, by which others are seduced ; 
for enabling me to improve any opportuni- 
ties of doing good, and make me in any thing 
useful to others : yea, I thank thee for all 
thy mercies to at he: Christians, for all tht 
gifts and graces, and usefulness of any of 
thy servants, wherein, as a member of the 
same body, I desire to rejoice ; for any sup- 
port and comfort to me, or any of them un- 
der honorable sufferings for thy name sake* 

I desire unfeignedly to bless thee for any 
succor, relief, and victory ; with repect to 
the snares and buifctings of sat an, and the 
vilest of his temptations* When he hath 
tempted me to apostacy, and infidelity, in 
speculation or practice ; to question the 
truth of the holy scriptures, and the life to 
come ; to doubt of the foundations of the 
christian faith, or to despair of the mercy of 



mTiuz andHrztLvrrr. 18* 

God, and give up the reins to sensual lust ; 
or to draw" me frcm God, by the love of 
the world, and the praise of men by evil com- 
pany, intemperance, secret wickedness, Sec. 

I' bless thee with my whole soul for call, 
ing cm back from any of my wanderings, and 
by infinite goodness recovering me after 
greztfalls, enabling me to return when I had 
gone astray, and seek thy forfeited favor, 
that thou may's* heal my back didings ; giv- 
ing me, in order to it, a deep sense of mj 
own sin, and of thy sovereign grace ; leading 
me to a saviour whose blood cleanseth from 
all sin, when my guilty, defiled soul so much 
needeth its pardoning and cleansing virtue \ 
awakening me to make holy vows, and call- 
ing upon me by thy word, and spirit, and 
providence, to perform them. 

I bless thee who hast guided my feet into 
the way of peace, when by the terrors of an 
accusing conscience, and the sense of unpar- 
doned sin, and the apprehensions of thy de- 
served wrath, I was ready to despair : that tho* 
thou didst most justly hide thy face at any 
time, it was but lor a little while ; but didst 
seasonably, and in mercy return, to wipe off 
my tears, restore the joy of thy salvation, and 
chase away the clouds and darkness on my 
spirit, by the reviving presence of thy own* 
Thou who art the author, wilt be the f rasher 

vy faith, and therefore tho' thou hast vis- 
ited mine iniquities with a fatherly rod, yet 
thy loving kindness thou has: net taken from 
me, or suffered thy fahkfulnesi to fail, or thy 
eace i& be removed ; but lust re- 



1 £0 Serious R e fl ect i o tf % 

freshed me with hidden manna, after great 
perplexities, saying unto my soul, I am God, 
even thy God. Thou hast made me to hear 
thy voice, which was sweet ; and to taste thy 
live, which is better than wine , enabling mc 
to say with thine apostle Thomas, my Lord, 
And my God ; and to have any comunion with 
thee since, in publick or private duties. 

For all these innumerable mercies I desirfc 
to praise thee, which yet are but in order to 
greater, everlasting kindness in heaven. These 
are but the taste and earnest of what thou 
wilt bestow hereafter. Oh hew great is his 
goodness that he hath laid up for thofe that fear 
him/ And mw, Lord, what wait I for ? 
My hope is even in thee. I thank thee, who 
hast thus put it into my heart, to render thee 
solemn praise, and once more to renew my 
covenant with thee. 

/ will magnify the L*rd r anl myfpirit {hall 
rejoice in God my Saviour. Return unto thy 
reft, my foul, for the Lord hath dealt boun- 
i hfully with vie. £ If kite I live, I will praise 
thte\ andfmg praifes unto my God, while I 
have a being. O come, and behold the works 
of the Lord, what he hath done for my foul I 
The Lord liveth ; f blefjed be my rock, and let 
the God gf my falvation be exalted. Let my 
hear be glad, and my glory rejoice, for the 
Lo. ^ is not afhamed to be called my God. 
Thaiiks be to God, who hath caufed me to tri- 
umph in Chrijl Jefus. Sing unto the Lord, O 
ye his faints, and give thanks at the remem- 
brance of his holinef ! \ I cried unto thee 
and thou hafl healed and faved me : I will give 

*Kki. cir, 33 fPfal. x^iii. 46, JPfal. xxx* 



; 






#* Timi and Eternity,. 191 

thanks to thee forever. %I will fkexo forth thy 
hving-kindnef in the morning, and thy fait h- 
futnefs every night. For the Lord is good, 
his mercy is roerlafting, and his truth endures 
throughout all generations. enter into his gates 
with thankfgivmg, and his courts -with praift:. 
be thankful unto him, and blefs his name. 
Blfs the Lord, all yc his works, in all places 
ef his dominion Chiefs tht Lord, my foul. 

Let mc add, for a conclusion, that the par- 
ticular deliverances, supports and consola- 
tions, which at any time God hath given in 
cases of great exigence, or in answer to im- 
portunate prayer, ought never to be forgot- 
ten. Many experiene'd christians have been 
wont to write down such remarkable appear- 
ances of God for them, with the particular 
circumstances that did recommend and en- 
hance the mercy, ( whether spiritual or tem- 
poral ) as an encouragement to trust in Gcd 
in future difficulties ; and. have afterwards 
found the comfort and advantage of being 
able to have recourse to such papers. This 
practice I recommend as what has been use- 
ful and consolatory to divers christians lor 
many years afterwards ; and to some others 
of their more intimate friends, to whom they 
might, without vanity, be imparted. What 
experiences might be recorded, of signal re- 
turns to prayer, and seasonable manifesta- 
tions of the truth, and goodness, and wis- 
dom of God, if all the instances thereof were 
duly recollected and prcserv'd ! And ho\r 
sweet and pleasant would the work cf prayed 
und praise then be ! With what njoicirrg 
JFfa!. cxix.62. 



192 Serious Hi flections 

and delight should* we set about it, and live 
in it, if the constraining goodness and love 
of God, and a thankful sense of his unspeak- 
able mercies did bring us to him, and indite 
and animate every word ! What support and 
comfort, and probable hopes, ( at least } of 
the special love of God might we derive from 
the various passages of his compassion and 
kindness ! And hereby we rqpy be able more 
heartily to give him thanks, for pardon, sane- 
iification, and adoption* which wc commonly 
mention with too much doubt and fear. 

It rriav likewise be adviseable to examine 
and' record the workings of your own spirit, 
under such dispensations: what thoughts 
you then had of God ? What acts of kith, 
love and thankfulness, you did then manifest ? 
What evidences of God's favour, and what 
discovery of your own sincerity, you have 
had at such times ? When, and how, and by 
what means you were cur'd of your uncom- 
fortable unbelief, and rais'd from yocr des- 
pondency ? What promises you had recourse 
to, for relief? What considerations were 
most helpful to you ? What frame of spirit 
you kept up in prayer, before and after ? 
\Vhat resolutions and engagements you made 
to God, to love, and trust, and praise and 
serve him, and give up all to his disposal, 
for the future ? And what consequent obli- 
gation may be inferred from thence, to ac- 
quiesce in the will of God, and resign our- 
seLves entirely to him; saying, this God is our 

' God forever and ever, and he will h our 

K guide unto death. 

nxiSt 



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Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 






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